What is Magliano Sabina known for?

Seat of the Sabina diocese since the Middle Ages, the cathedral on Piazza Duomo carrying an Alfieri façade from 1735. The terrace view across the Tiber to Soratte, the conical limestone outlier Horace named in his Carmina. DOP-protected Sabina extra-virgin olive oil produced in the comune territory, the first oil DOP recognized in Italy in 1996.

Where is Magliano Sabina?

Magliano Sabina is a comune in the province of Rieti, Lazio region of Italy, about 45 kilometers from Terni.

Lazio · Rieti

Magliano Sabina

A 222-meter Sabine town on a Tiber terrace facing Monte Soratte, cathedral seat of the Sabina diocese on the Lazio-Umbria border.

45 km / 28 mi

Nearest hub (Terni)

3,433

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Borghi più belli d'Italia

Why come

Magliano Sabina sitson a terrace above the Tiber valley, fifty kilometers north of Rome on the border between Lazio and Umbria. The hill above the river was Sabine ground; the Roman town of Ocriculum, just across in modern Umbria, was the regional anchor. The medieval centre grew up under the Benedictine abbey of Farfa and passed to the Holy See in the fourteenth century. The town has been the seat of the Sabina diocese since the early Middle Ages, and the Cattedrale di San Liberatore on Piazza Duomo carries an Alfieri façade from 1735. The Chiesa di San Pietro is a twelfth-century Romanesque survival, one of the oldest standing buildings in town. From the ridge the panorama opens west across the Tiber toward Monte Soratte, the conical limestone outlier Horace wrote about in his Carmina; the view alone earned the Borghi più belli d'Italia membership in 2003.

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Gallery

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Known for

Cattedrale di San Liberatore
Cathedral of the Sabina diocese on Piazza Duomo, with a façade by Alfieri completed in 1735.
Chiesa di San Pietro
Twelfth-century Romanesque church, one of the oldest standing buildings in town, with its original masonry preserved.
Centro storico
Medieval upper town on the Tiber terrace, with the Palazzo Comunale, the Sabine diocese seat and surviving sections of the village walls.
Panorama on Monte Soratte
View from the ridge across the Tiber toward Monte Soratte, the conical limestone outlier praised by Horace in his Carmina.
Area archeologica di Vescovio
Remains of the Roman Forum Novum and the medieval cathedral of Santa Maria di Vescovio in the comune territory, the original Sabine episcopal seat.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September through October are the strongest months in the Tiber valley. The Sabine olive country is green in spring and the panorama toward Monte Soratte opens cleanest after rain clears the haze. July and August touch the mid-thirties; the centro storico stays cooler than the river plain below, but the open ridge walks empty around midday. November through March is quiet but workable. The Sabina olive harvest runs from late October into December, and the first new oil from the local frantoi reaches local tables before Christmas. The Tiber fogs hard on cold mornings between December and February, and the cathedral square sometimes disappears into it.