Collalto Sabino (a village of approximately 400 inhabitants in the Rieti province. 85km northeast of Rome in the Cicolano area, at 760m altitude on a volcanic tufo peak above the Lago del Turano, the artificial reservoir created in 1939 by the damming of the Turano river) is the most completely preserved medieval village in the Rieti Sabina and one of the most intact in the entire Lazio region: the historic center of Collalto Sabino (the ring of stone houses on the tufo peak, the castle tower at the highest point, the single main lane connecting the entrance gate to the church of Santa Maria Assunta, and the absence of any post-medieval construction within the village walls, the entire visible historic center dates to the 13th-15th century with no later alterations beyond maintenance) has the specific quality of a village that was abandoned by the majority of its residents in the 20th century before any significant modern construction occurred, and has been slowly repopulated since the 1990s without the urban pressure that typically triggers the modernization that destroys historic fabric.
The Turano lake (the artificial lake created by the Turano dam, the 1939 engineering work that flooded the original Turano valley and created the specific reservoir whose irregular shoreline, blue-green water, and the Apennine backdrop produce the most dramatically Alpine-looking landscape in the Rieti province) is visible from the Collalto Sabino castle terrace in its entirety: the specific view of the blue lake in the valley below, surrounded by the Cicolano mountains that rise to 1,700m above sea level, from the 760m village terrace is the finest single elevated lake view in the central Apennines.
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Collalto Sabino: Village, Castle, and Lake
The Medieval Historic Center
The Collalto Sabino historic center (the village on the tufo peak, accessible by the single approach road from the Turano lake valley, approximately 2km of winding ascent from the SS578 Salaria Cicolana) consists of the main gate (the medieval arch at the village entrance, the specific stone archway that marks the boundary between the outside approach road and the interior village space), Via Principale (the single main lane, approximately 200m long, connecting the gate to the castle area at the upper end), the houses on either side (the medieval stone construction, unrendered in most cases, with the original small window openings and the external stairs to the upper floors that medieval Italian construction used before indoor stairwells became standard), and the castle tower (the 14th-century Mareri family tower at the highest point of the tufo peak. 20m tall, freely visible from the village and accessible to the terrace level).
The Turano Lake and the Cicolano
The Lago del Turano (the 16km long artificial reservoir below Collalto Sabino, the most scenic freshwater swimming and kayaking location in the Rieti province) has the specific summer appeal of the mountain lake: the water temperature (18-22°C in July-August, colder than the Tyrrhenian coast by 5-10°C but warmer than the Simbruini streams), the mountain setting, and the specific lack of tourist infrastructure (the Turano lake shoreline has no large lido establishments, the summer beach use is at the informal areas along the shoreline road) make it the authentic Apennine lake alternative to the Lago Albano or the Bracciano lake.
Q&A: Collalto Sabino
How do I combine Collalto Sabino with other Rieti area destinations?
The Collalto Sabino + Orvinio + Roccantica circuit (the three most dramatically positioned Rieti Sabina cliff and ridge villages. 40km total between all three) is the most productive single day in the Rieti province for the village tourism interested visitor: Collalto (the medieval fabric, the castle tower, the Turano lake view), Orvinio (the intact village on its cliff, see the Orvinio guide), and Roccantica (the cliff terrace, the DOP olive oil buy). The Turano lake swimming in the afternoon completes the circuit with the specific mountain lake refreshment.
Internal Links
- Orvinio: Il Borgo sul Precipizio 20km da Collalto
- Roccantica: La Cresta Sabina con Vista sul Tevere
- Cicolano: I Borghi Dimenticati del Rieti
- Fotografare il Lago Turano da Collalto Sabino
- Cicolano in Estate: Il Lago e il Borgo Medievale
- Trekking Cicolano: I Sentieri del Turano
- Borghi Medievali Rieti: Il Circuito dei Mareri
