What is Subiaco known for?

Konrad Sweynheim and Arnold Pannartz set up Italy's first printing press at Santa Scolastica in 1464 and printed the Lactantius in October 1465. The cave where Benedict of Nursia lived three years as a hermit around 500 AD, now a frescoed sanctuary built into the cliff of Monte Taleo. Three-hundred-kilometer pilgrim path beginning at the Sacro Speco and ending at Montecassino, traced through Benedict's own monasteries.

When is the best time to visit Subiaco?

Apr–Oct. April through June and September through October are the months for Subiaco: the Aniene runs full, the cliff sanctuaries are open from morning, and the pilgrim road south fills with walkers on the Cammino di San Benedetto. July and August are warm in town and cool in the monasteries; the cave at the Sacro Speco holds twelve degrees year-round. November through March is the quiet pilgrim season, mist on the river and few coaches in the lots. The feast of San Benedetto on 11 July and the procession to the Sacro Speco are the year's anchor events.

Subiaco is a comune in the province of Roma, Lazio region of Italy, about 73 kilometers from Roma.

How do I get to Subiaco?

From Roma, Subiaco is roughly 73 km by road.

Lazio · Roma

Subiaco

The Aniene valley town where Benedict spent three years in a cliff cave, and where Italy's first printed book appeared in 1465.

Known for

FIRST PRINTED BOOK
Konrad Sweynheim and Arnold Pannartz set up Italy's first printing press at Santa Scolastica in 1464 and printed the Lactantius in October 1465.
SACRO SPECO
The cave where Benedict of Nursia lived three years as a hermit around 500 AD, now a frescoed sanctuary built into the cliff of Monte Taleo.
CAMMINO DI SAN BENEDETTO
Three-hundred-kilometer pilgrim path beginning at the Sacro Speco and ending at Montecassino, traced through Benedict's own monasteries.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

The festa: Benedetto da Norcia, 21 March

Why come

Subiaco sits along the upper Aniene, seventy-three kilometers east of Rome and forty from Tivoli. Nero built a villa here in the first century, using artificial lakes the locals called Sublaqueum, below the lake, the name that survived him. Around 500 AD a young Roman named Benedict of Nursia retreated to a cave on Monte Taleo and lived there three years as a hermit.

The Sacro Speco grew up around that cave: frescoes by the Magister Conxolus and the school of Cimabue cover its walls. Down the hill stands the Abbey of Santa Scolastica, founded by Benedict himself and the only one of his original twelve monasteries still standing. In 1465 two pupils of Gutenberg, Konrad Sweynheim and Arnold Pannartz, installed the first printing press on Italian soil here and produced the Lactantius, the first book printed in Italy. The Cammino di San Benedetto begins at the Sacro Speco and runs three hundred kilometers south to Montecassino.

The Sunday letter

We haven’t written Subiaco’s letter yet.

One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.

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What to see

Monastero del Sacro Speco
Benedictine sanctuary built into the cliff face of Monte Taleo over the cave where Benedict lived as a hermit; frescoes by Conxolus and the school of Cimabue.
Abbazia di Santa Scolastica
Founded by Benedict in the sixth century, the only survivor of his original twelve monasteries; library of three hundred manuscripts and a copy of the 1465 Lactantius.
Rocca Abbaziale (Rocca dei Borgia)
Twelfth-century fortress on the highest point of the borgo, built by abbot Giovanni V; birthplace in 1480 of Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Rodrigo Borgia, abbot of Subiaco.
Ponte di San Francesco
Single-arch fourteenth-century bridge over the Aniene, on the pilgrim route from town to the two monasteries.
Aniene river and Neronian lakes
Remains of Nero's three artificial lakes upstream from town, the Simbruina Stagna that gave Sublaqueum its Latin name.

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Plan your trip

Living here

Population 8,466
Off the beaten pathi
Pharmacy in town
High school within a 30-minute drive
Train station in the comune
Nearest airport Rome, 1 h 51 min drive
Regional capital Roma, 1 h 10 min drive

Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

The numbers

Elevation: 408 m
Population: 8,466
Surface area: 63.23 km²

On the map

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These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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