What is Greccio known for?

Site of the first living nativity scene staged by Francis of Assisi in a cliff cave on Christmas Eve 1223. One of the four Franciscan shrines of the Rieti Sacred Valley, alongside Fonte Colombo, La Foresta and Poggio Bustone. International nativity-scene museum holding crèches from cultures across the world inside the sanctuary.

Greccio is a comune in the province of Rieti, Lazio region of Italy, about 23 kilometers from Terni.

Lazio · Rieti

Greccio

A 705-meter borgo above the Rieti valley where Francis of Assisi staged the first living nativity scene in a cliff cave on Christmas Eve 1223.

705m

Elevation

23 km / 14 mi

Nearest hub (Terni)

1,495

Population

May–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Borghi più belli d'Italia

Why come

Greccio sits at 705 meters on a forested ridge above the Rieti valley, fifteen kilometers from Rieti in the Sabina. Francis of Assisi came here in December 1223, recalling his pilgrimage to Bethlehem fifteen years earlier, and asked the local lord Giovanni Velita for a cave where he could stage a representation of the Nativity. On Christmas Eve the friars and villagers gathered in the rock chamber with a manger, an ox and a donkey; one of the friars said Mass and Francis preached. It was the first living nativity scene in the western tradition, and Greccio has been making versions of it every Christmas for eight centuries. The Santuario Francescano grew up around the cave; the Cappella del Presepio was built inside it in 1228, the year of Francis's canonisation. Above the sanctuary the medieval village runs along the ridge, one of the four shrines of the Sacred Valley of Rieti.

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Gallery

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Known for

Santuario Francescano
Franciscan sanctuary built around the cave where Francis staged the first living nativity scene in December 1223, with the Cappella del Presepio carved into the rock.
Museo Internazionale del Presepio
International nativity-scene museum inside the sanctuary, with crèches and presepi from cultures across the world.
Centro storico medievale
Walled medieval village on the ridge above the sanctuary, with stone houses, vaulted passages and the original village gates.
Panorama over the Rieti valley
View from the ridge over the Rieti basin toward Monte Terminillo and the surrounding Sabine peaks.
Riserva Naturale Monte Salto del Cieco
Wooded reserve covering the slopes between the village and the Franciscan sanctuary, with marked trails through beech and oak woodland.

When to visit

Best months · May–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May through September is the main outdoor window at 705 meters. The Rieti valley is green into June and the cool ridge stays workable through midsummer. October draws walkers for the autumn colour in the Salto del Cieco reserve. The second season is Christmas. From early December through Epiphany the village restages the Francis nativity in costume, the medieval streets fill with crèches and the sanctuary doubles its hours; the temperatures are cold and snow falls some weeks, but the presepio traffic carries the calendar all the way through January 6. November and the post-Epiphany weeks are quiet; many family-run osterie close until Easter.