Every design for Rieti

Rieti is known as the umbilicus Italiae, the navel of Italy, and the land around it feels like a centre: a wide, fertile basin ringed by mountains, with the Monti Reatini and Mount Terminillo to the east and the Sabine hills to the west. The town centre stands on a small hilltop at the southern edge of the plain, beside the Velino.

That plain was once a lake. The Romans drained most of it by diverting the Velino into the Nera, which is how the Marmore Falls were born, and only the small Ripasottile and Lungo lakes survive of the original. The water never really left: springs around the town supply much of the drinking water Rome needs. In the old centre, the Basilica di Sant'Agostino, the Chiesa di San Rufo and the Arco di Bonifacio VIII recall the medieval centuries when popes often stayed here.

Coming back means seeing the town on its hill above the plain again, and knowing exactly where the middle of Italy is.