This morning I had a very interesting tour of "Rieti sottoterra" by Rita, who also has a B&B there. Rieti is at the junction of 3 rivers, and when the Romans conquered it (from the Sabine tribe), they redirected water to make more land, and also conducted a system of underground caverns which allows the houses above to remain dry. Rieti traded salt from the east coast of Italy to Rome, hence the name of the streets Via Salaria.
Later, Mussolini built walls along the river to prevent the flooding of the streets which occasionally happened. The Roman caves under the city were used as air raid shelters when Rieti was bombed in WWII.
I later visited the Rieti museum, which also explained that a lake once covered the place now occupied by Rieti, but this disappeared because of climate change.
The museum had a lot of information about the empire Vaspatian, because 2009 was the bimillemium of his birth.
I also discovered that there is a Via Benedictine walk you can do around Rieti.
Consider visiting Rieti, it is a 10 Euro train trip from Rome.
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Sounds like a great way to spend your birthday. I wonder if two people eating some cake on the opposite sides of the world to celebrate a particular event is the same as two people praying for a common cause on opposite sides of the world. Make sure you have some cake today to celebrate and I will find a piece today and I'll think of you when I do.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday too from me Paul! Haven't been well for a few days so hadn't been to the computer until today Saturday. Hope you had that piece of nice Italian cake and that you enjoy to journey to Rome for the Papl audience. Have you heard back that you have tickets? If not try emailing Domus Australia for a ticket! Elaine
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