Poggio Nativo is a splendid village in the Sabina region founded on a spur of rock immersed in the rolling hills of this area of Rieti crossed by the Farfa river, rich in olive groves and fields cultivated with wheat.
This area has been inhabited since the Neolithic and in 2021, in a cave in the Battifratta area, a group of researchers from the Sapienza University of Rome found a clay figurine dating back to around 7,000 years ago which portrayed a barely sketched female figure but which carefully reproduced body and hair decorations.
In the Roman period life took place in the lower parts and many remains of Roman villas have been found.
The current medieval village, however, was founded around the 10th century around a castle located on a steep spur where the inhabitants of the area had taken refuge to escape the barbarians.
The original name "Podium Donadei" derives from the name of the alleged founder of the town, a powerful local lord called Donadeo. Another hypothesis is that the name comes from "donum Dei", gift from God, for having offered protection to the population.
The position of Poggio Nativo was strategic due to the conflicts between the nearby Abbey of Farfa, which supported the empire, and the Holy See which rivaled the powerful. For this reason, until the 14th century it was directly dependent on the Apostolic Chamber of the Holy See.
However, the Farfa Abbey was responsible for the construction of the Convent of San Paolo built on top of an ancient Roman villa and which today is crossed by the Via di San Francesco which retraces the paths of the patron saint of Italy.
Then it passed as a fief to the baronial Savelli family who supported the Angevins against the Aragonese of the nearby Kingdom of Naples, provoking the Church which destroyed the town with its troops.
After various changes of feudal families, in 1625 it became a duchy and, from 1633 it was governed by Prince Marcantonio Borghese and his heirs until the end of feudalism.
The presence of elegant buildings within the town testifies to the economic prosperity that the community had achieved. The Marsica earthquake of 1915 almost destroyed the town and its castle-palace, leaving only a bastion and a small two-storey nucleus.
Every now and then in Poggio Nativo the tradition of the 'communal oven' is revived remanding when the entire population had access to a municipal wood-fired oven to prepare their own bread and the famous dry biscuits. It is lit for the Pizza Festival but also on special occasions such as Easter.
Don't miss the cherry festival organized with a lot of glamor and attended by important political and nobility personalities.
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