Sabina (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ''Sabinum''), also called the Sabine Hills, is a region in central

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. It is named after Sabina, the territory of the ancient Sabines, which was once bordered by

Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil ( Old Latium) on w ...

to the south, Picenum to the east, ancient

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

to the north and Etruria to the west. It was separated from Umbria by the River Nar, today's Nera, and from Etruria by the River

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest List of rivers of Italy, river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where ...

. Today, Sabina is mainly northeast of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in the regions

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and Abruzzo. ''Upper Sabina'' is in the province of Rieti ( Poggio Mirteto, Magliano Sabina, Casperia, Montopoli di Sabina, Torri in Sabina, Cantalupo in Sabina, Montebuono, Forano, Poggio Catino, Montasola, Stimigliano, Castelnuovo di Farfa, Fara in Sabina, Roccantica, Mompeo, Salisano, Cottanello, Configni, Vacone, Tarano, Collevecchio, Toffia, Poggio Nativo,

Scandriglia Scandriglia is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Rieti in the Italian region Latium, located about northeast of Rome and about south of Rieti. In the frazione of Ponticelli Sabino, is located the Franciscan convent and sanctuary of ...

ecc.). ''Sabina Romana'' is in the province of

(Mentana, Monteflavio, Montelibretti,

Monterotondo Monterotondo is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, central Italy. History According to some historians, Monterotondo is the heir of the ancient Sabine town of Eretum, although the modern settlement appeared in the 10th-11th ce ...

, Montorio Romano, Moricone, Nerola, Palombara Sabina). Part of Sabina is in the regions of

(territories of Narni, Amelia, Cascia, Norcia, partially Upper Valnerina, etc.) and Abruzzo (from Valle dell'Aterno to L'Aquila).

History

The Sabines who lived in two of the

Seven Hills of Rome The seven hills of Rome ( la, Septem colles/montes Romae, it, Sette colli di Roma ) east of the river Tiber form the geographical heart of Rome, within the walls of the city. Hills The seven hills are: * Aventine Hill (Latin: ''Collis Aventi ...

(the Quirinal and

Viminal The Viminal Hill ( ; la, Collis Vīminālis ; it, Viminale ) is the smallest of the famous Seven Hills of Rome. A finger-shape cusp pointing toward central Rome between the Quirinal Hill to the northwest and the Esquiline Hill to the southeast ...

) formed part of the population of Rome (together with the Latins who lived on the other hills) at the time of its foundation. The second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius, was from Cures, the capital of Sabina. During the reigns of the Roman kings Ancus Marcius and

Tarquinius Priscus Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, or Tarquin the Elder, was the legendary fifth king of Rome and first of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned for thirty-eight years.Livy, ''ab urbe condita libri'', I Tarquinius expanded Roman power through military conqu ...

the Sabines attacked Roman territory several times. This also occurred during the early period of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

. After the Third Samnite War (298-290 BC), the Romans moved to crush the Sabines. The

Roman consul A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...

Manius Curius Dentatus Manius Curius Dentatus (died 270 BC) was a Roman general and statesman noted for ending the Samnite War and for his military exploits during the Pyrrhic War. According to Pliny, he was born with teeth, thus earning the surname Dentatus, "toothed ...

pushed deep into Sabina in the area between the rivers Nar (today’s Nera, the main tributary of the River Tiber) and Anio (Aniene, another tributary of the Tiber) and the source of the River Avens (Velino). Spurius Carvilius confiscated large tracts of land in the plain around Reate (today’s Rieti) and

Amiternum Amiternum was an ancient Sabine city, then Roman city and later bishopric and Latin Catholic titular see in the central Abruzzo region of modern Italy, located from L'Aquila. Amiternum was the birthplace of the historian Sallust (86 BC). Histo ...

(11 km from L'Aquila), which he distributed to Roman settlers. Florus did not give the reasons for this campaign. The modem historian Salmon speculates that "it might have been because of the part they he Sabineshad played or failed to play in the events of 296/295 C" That is, they let the Samnites cross their territory to go to Etruria and join forces with the

Etruscans The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, rou ...

Umbrians The Umbri were an Italic people of ancient Italy. A region called Umbria still exists and is now occupied by Italian speakers. It is somewhat smaller than the ancient Umbria. Most ancient Umbrian cities were settled in the 9th-4th centuries BC on ...

and Senone Gauls. Forsythe also speculates that it may have been a punishment for this.

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

mentioned that Dentatus subdued the rebellious Sabines. The Sabines were given citizenship without the right to vote (''civitas sine suffragio''), which meant that their territory was effectively annexed to the Roman Republic. Reate and Amiternum were given full Roman citizenship (civitas optimo iure) in 268 BC. In the Augustan division of Italy, Sabina was included in the region IV ''

Samnium Samnium ( it, Sannio) is a Latin exonym for a region of Southern Italy anciently inhabited by the Samnites. Their own endonyms were ''Safinim'' for the country (attested in one inscription and one coin legend) and ''Safineis'' for the The ...

''. With Diocletian's late 3rd-century administrative reforms, Italy became a Roman diocese and was subdivided into

Roman provinces The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled ...

. Sabina became part of the province of Samnium.

Constantine the Great Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterran ...

turned Italy into a praetorian prefecture and subdivided it into two dioceses. Sabina fell under the diocese of ''Italia suburbicaria'' as the province of ''Valeria''. With the Lombard invasion of Italy in the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

, the territory of Sabina became part of the Lombard Duchy of Spoleto. With the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

reconquest of central Italy, it came under the

Duchy of Rome The Duchy of Rome ( la, Ducatus Romanus) was a state within the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna. Like other Byzantine states in Italy, it was ruled by an imperial functionary with the title ''dux''. The duchy often came into conflict with the Papa ...

of the Byzantine

Exarchate of Ravenna The Exarchate of Ravenna ( la, Exarchatus Ravennatis; el, Εξαρχάτο της Ραβέννας) or of Italy was a lordship of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) in Italy, from 584 to 751, when the last exarch was put to death by the ...

. With the rise of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

, Sabina was governed directly by the pontificate or indirectly, by the ''counts of Sabina'', a title of the noble

Crescentii The Crescentii (in modern Italian Crescenzi) were a baronial family, attested in Rome from the beginning of the 10th century and which in fact ruled the city and the election of the popes until the beginning of the 11th century. History Several ...

family in the 10th and 11th centuries. During the late 9th to early 10th century, the region was, along with much of central Italy, a stronghold of, or threatened by the Saracens.

PDO Sabina extra virgin olive oil

The extra virgin olive oil

Sabina Sabina may refer to: Places and jurisdictions * Sabina (region), region and place in Italy, and hence: * the now Suburbicarian Diocese of Sabina (-Poggio Mirteto), Italy * Magliano Sabina, city, Italy * Pozzaglia Sabina, city, Italy *Fara Sab ...

is, chronologically speaking, the first Italian Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) oil to gain the certification from the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

, the production of olives and oil is a millennial tradition in Sabine.

Colli della Sabina DOC

In 1996, the

Italian government The government of Italy is in the form of a democratic republic, and was established by a constitution in 1948. It consists of legislative, executive, and judicial subdivisions, as well as a Head of State, or President. The Italian Constituti ...

designated the vineyards around the Sabine Hills as a DOC wine region eligible to produce red, white and ''

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

'' wine as well as some

sweet Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketone ...

sparkling wine Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne regi ...

from white

grape varieties This list of grape varieties includes cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a table grape, fresh or dried (raisin, currant, sultana). For a complete list of all grape species including those unimportant to agriculture, see Viti ...

. The grapes are limited to a harvest yields of 12 tonnes/ha. Red and ''rose'' wines are a blend of mostly 40–70%

Sangiovese Sangiovese (, also , , ) is a red Italian wine grape variety that derives its name from the Latin ''sanguis Jovis'', "the blood of Jupiter". Though it is the grape of most of central Italy from Romagna down to Lazio (the most widespread grape ...

, 15–40%

Montepulciano Montepulciano () is a medieval and Renaissance hill town and ''comune'' in the Italian province of Siena in southern Tuscany. It sits high on a limestone ridge, east of Pienza, southeast of Siena, southeast of Florence, and north of Rome b ...

with other local varieties permitted up to 30%. The white wines are a blend of at least 40% Trebbiano and at least 40%

Malvasia Malvasia (, also known as Malvazia) is a group of wine grape varieties grown historically in the Mediterranean region, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and the island of Madeira, but now grown in many of the winemaking regions of the world. ...

with other local grape varieties permitted to make up to 20% of the remaining blend. Red and ''rose'' wines must have a minimum

alcohol level Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

of 11% with whites having a minimum of 10.5%.

Suburbicarian bishopric

:''See also suburbicarian diocese.'' Sabina has been the seat of a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

since the 6th century, though the earliest names in the list of bishops may be apocryphal. The official papal province of Sabina was established under

Pope Paul V Pope Paul V ( la, Paulus V; it, Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death in January 1621. In 1611, he honored ...

in 1605. The

Cardinal Bishop A cardinal ( la, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman Church') is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created by the ruling pope and typically hold the title for life. C ...

of Sabina is one of the six ''suburbican tituli'' (not counting Ostia) of the

College of Cardinals The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are app ...

which carry the rank of Cardinal Bishop. Since 1925 the Cardinal Titular Church of Sabina has been joined to that of Poggio Mirteto, a municipality of the region, and officially named ''Sabina e Poggio Mirteto'', since 1986 ''Sabina–Poggio Mirteto''. The current (since 2000) Cardinal Bishop of Sabina-Poggio Mirteto is

Giovanni Battista Re Giovanni Battista Re (born 30 January 1934) is an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church whose service has been primarily in the Roman Curia. He was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 2001. He was prefect of the Congregation for Bishops ...

Notable visitors

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

, American author, visited on horseback at the end of January 1872. The area was bright and alive. It was charged "to the supersensuous ear, with the murmur of an extinguished life". He also noted to his family that "I can stick on a horse better than I supposed".Biography of Henry James Vol II, Book III, Roman Rides. Leon Edel

References

External links

Sabina on-line
* ttp://www.gcatholic.org/churches/data/ctitle-c006.htm GCatholicbr>Travel Information for the SabinaPhotos and images of Sabina
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabina (Region) Geography of Lazio Geography of Umbria Geographical, historical and cultural regions of Italy