Passo Corese is an Italian town and hamlet (''

frazione A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidat ...

'') of

Fara in Sabina Fara in Sabina (also shortened to Fara Sabina) is a (municipality) in the Province of Rieti in the Italian region of Lazio, located about northeast of Rome and about southwest of Rieti. History The area was inhabited in prehistoric times, as a ...

, a municipality in the

province of Rieti The province of Rieti () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Rieti. Established in 1927, it has an area of with a total population of 157,887 people as of 2017. There are 73 ''comuni'' (: '' ...

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

. In 2011 it had a population of 3,573.

History

Early history

Close to Passo Corese is the site of Cures Sabinorum, also called simply Cures. According to Roman historians, it was from here that the

Sabine The Sabines (, , , ; ) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains (see Sabina) of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines divided int ...

king

Titus Tatius According to the Roman foundation myth, Titus Tatius, also called Tatius Sabinus, was king of the Sabines from Cures and joint-ruler of the Kingdom of Rome for several years. During the reign of Romulus, the first king of Rome, Tatius dec ...

marched on Rome, in the seventh year of the city, 747 BC, to avenge the Rape of the Sabine Women, and then agreed to settle in Rome. In the time of

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

, Cures was merely a village, but it developed in the succeeding centuries, becoming in the 5th and 6th centuries the seat of a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, prov ...

, five of whose

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

s are known by name because of their participation in synods or because of correspondence with the popes. The

Lombards The Lombards () or Longobards () were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who conquered most of the Italian Peninsula between 568 and 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written betwee ...

destroyed Cures, probably in 589, and the population dispersed. In a letter of February 593,

Pope Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I (; ; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great (; ), was the 64th Bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 until his death on 12 March 604. He is known for instituting the first recorded large-scale mission from Rom ...

ended the existence of the diocese as a residential see, adding its territory to that of

Nomentum Mentana is a town and ''comune'', former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio, central Italy. It is located north-east of Rome and has a population of about 23,000. History Mentana is a town ...

. Cures Sabinorum is today listed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

as a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

Recent history

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Passo Corese was the site of a large

POW camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, an ...

, P.G. 54. It was the venue for the riding part of the

modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Summer Olympics, Olympic multisport that consists of five events: fencing (one-touch épée followed by direct elimination), freestyle swimming, obstacle course racing, Laser pistol (sport), laser pistol shooting, and ...

event for the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

Geography

Located 35 km north of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Passo Corese lies on a plain near the river

Tiber The Tiber ( ; ; ) is the List of rivers of Italy, third-longest 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 it is joined by the R ...

, at the borders of the province of Rieti with the one of Rome. It is 8 km from

Fiano Romano Fiano Romano is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Italy, approximately north of the city. Fiano Romano borders the following municipalities: Capena, Civitella San Paolo, Montelibretti, Montopoli di Sabina, Na ...

, 10 from

Montelibretti Montelibretti is a town and (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Italian region of Lazio, located about northeast of Rome on the slopes of Monti Sabini. Montelibretti borders the following municipalities: Capena, Fara in Sab ...

and

Farfa Abbey Farfa Abbey () is a territorial abbey in northern Lazio, central Italy. In the Middle Ages, it was one of the richest and most famous abbeys in Italy. It belongs to the Benedictines, Benedictine Order and is located about from Rome, in the ''co ...

, 15 from

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 c ...

and 16 from

Transport

The town is the seat of

Fara Sabina-Montelibretti railway station Fara may refer to: Places Italy * Fara Gera d'Adda, Bergamo, Lombardy * Fara Filiorum Petri, Chieti, Abruzzo * Fara San Martino, Chieti, Abruzzo * Fara in Sabina, Rieti, Lazio * Fara Novarese, Novara, Piedmont * Fara Olivana con Sola, ...

, part of the Roman suburban railway line FL1 Orte–Fiumicino. It is crossed by the Italian state highway SS4 "Via Salaria", and is the starting point of the SS4 Dir, a short beltway that links Passo Corese with the A1 motorway

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

–

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, on the northern Roman branch, at the exit "Fiano Romano".

References

External links

*
1960 Summer Olympics official report.
Volume 1, p. 81.
1960 Summer Olympics official report.
Volume 2, Part 2, p. 661. {{authority control Frazioni of the Province of Rieti Venues of the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic modern pentathlon venues Sports venues in Italy Railway towns in Italy