Rieti

Market town and capital of Rieti province in Lazio region, west-central Italy, 65 km/40 mi northeast of Rome, at the foot of Mount Terminillo; population (1990 est) 44,300. Agricultural produce includes wheat, vegetables, fruit, and beetroot, and there are processing factories for flour, pasta, and sugar. Products include textiles (synthetics) and chemicals (fertilizers); engineering and wood processing are important. Rieti also serves as a winter sports resort.

Once the chief town of the Sabines, it has some fine Renaissance buildings, a 13th-century episcopal palace, and a cathedral with a 13th-century campanile.

The Roman writer Marcus Terentius Varro, the Roman emperor Vespasian, the artist Antonio Gherardi (1638-1702), and the poet Angelo Maria Ricci (1776-1850) were born here.