RIETI, the ancient eate, once one of the principal towns of the Sabini, and now the chief town of a province of the Papal States, stands on the Velino, 42 miles N.N.E. from Rome, about 1000 feet above the sea, in an elevated plain, which Is part of the western highlands of the Apennines, • large tract that projects out of the central chain of the Abruzzo. The elevated region in question formed the country of the ancient Sabini. Before the French occupation of Italy it formed the province of Sabina, which is now called Meth from its chief town. This tract begins at the ridge east of Antrodoco, which forms the boundary between the table-land of Aquila, 2500 feet above the sea, the waters of which run by the Pescara to the Adriatic, and the basin of the Velino, or of Rieti, the waters of which run into the Tiber. This mountain region belongs partly to the Papal and partly to the Neapolitan territories. Its length is about 70 miles from north to south, and from the sources of the Nem at the foot of Mount Tetricua, above Norcia, to the source. of the Anio, above Subiaco. its greatest breadth, from the defile east of Antrodoco, on the road from Aquila to Med, to the fall of the Velino near Terui, is about 30 miles. The Nem forms the northern boundary of this mass of highlands, and drains the northern part of them by means of the river Corno, which joins the Upper Nem near Cerreto. The Velino and its affluents drain the central and largest part of the region. The Anita drains tho southern part as far as the ridge which divides its basin from that of the Sacco. The Anio fella by a cascade at Tivoli into the lowlands of the Campagna, and thence flows into the Tiber. The two waterfalls of the Velino and Auto are the only outlets by which the waters of the highlands of Sabina find their way westward to the Tiber.
A succession of mountain ridges form the western boundary of the highlands of Sabina on the aido of the Tiber, extending from the Anio at Tivoli to the Nem above Terns. The southern part of this range near the Anio Is known by the ancient name of Lneretilis, now Monte Gennaro; and the northern part, which extends to the Ncm, by the name of Mount Canteriva, which is seen from the valley of the Tiber towering to the eastward above the towns of Magliano, Calvi, Otricoli, and Narni. The eastern boundary of the region of the Sabini is
formed by the lofty ridge of the central Apennines, consisting of the poops of Monte Sibilla, 7200 feet; Mount Termiuillo, north-east of Itieti, 7000 feet ; and Mount Velino, 8180 feet. Between these two ridges lies the basin of the Velino, the lower part of which forms the plain of Rieti. The Vain* has its source in the central Apennines, *bent 15 miles north of Antrodoco, at the foot of Mount Cenatra, not far from the sources of the Trento, which flows on the opposite or eastern slope to the Adriatic. It flows first southward through a narrow and deep glen until it reaches Antrodoco. where it turns to the west, peening by Citita Docale and Rieti. Before it reaches the Latter town it receives the Salto, or from the south. The Salto rises near Tsgliacorzo, not far from the Lake Fncino, and flows west through a secluded but interesting valley called Cicolano,belong ing to the Neapolitan territory. This valley abounds in remains of cyclopeian conatructions, which are supposed to belong to the towns of the aborigines mentioned by Dionysiva (1. 14) as destroyed long before his tame. The district of Cicolano has acquired a certain historical interest on account of the tragical end of the Cenci, a Roman baronial family of the middle ages, the head of which, Francesco Cenci, was murdered in the castle of Petrella, at the instigation of his wife and danehter, who were put to death after a long triaL The Velino, after its confluence with the Salto, passes through Rieti, dividing the city from the suburb, and then turning to the north-west receives the Turano also from the south. The Turano, the ancient Telonina, risen in the Neapolitan territory, in the mountains which border the drain of the Fueruo to the westward ; it runs in a north-west direction nearly parallel to the Salto, passes by Carseoli on the Via Tiburtina, and after flowing along the eastern base of Mount Lucretilis, enters the plain of Rieti, where it joins the Velino after a course of about 40 miles, the greater part of which lies in the Papal States. It was on the banks of the Telonius that the consul P. Rutilms and 8000 men were defeated and killed during the Mandan or Social war.