RIETI (anc. Reate), a city and episcopal see of Italy, the capital of the province of Rieti, 251 m. by rail and 15 m. direct S.S.E. of Terni, which is 7o m. by rail from Rome. Pop. (1931) 18,471 (town), 32,152 (commune). It occupies a fine position 1,318 ft. above sea-level on the right bank of the Velino (a torrent subtributary to the Tiber), which at this point issues from the limestone plateau; the old town occupies the declivity and the new town spreads out on the level. While with its quaint red roofed houses, its old town walls (some Roman fragments, re stored about 1250), its cathedral (i3th and 15th centuries), its episcopal palace (1283), and its various churches and convents Rieti has much mediaeval picturesqueness; it also displays a good deal of modern activity in corn, vine and olive growing and cattle breeding. The fertility of the neighbourhood is celebrated both by Virgil and by Cicero.
For the disputes of Reate with the people of Interamna see TERNI. In 1149 the town was besieged and captured by Roger I. of Sicily. In the struggle between church and empire, it always held with the former ; and it defied the forces of Frederick II. and Otho IV. Pope Nicholas IV. long resided at Rieti, and it was there he crowned Charles II. of Anjou king of the Two Sicilies. In the 14th century Robert, and afterwards Joanna of Naples managed to keep possession of Rieti for many years, but it returned to the States of the Church under Gregory IX. About the year 1500, the liberties of the town, long defended against the encroachments of the popes, were entirely abolished. An earthquake in 1785 was in 1799 followed by the pillage of Rieti by the Neapolitans.
See G. Colasanti, Rieti (Perugia, igii).