Poggio Bustone

In 1208 Francis of Assisi came with his first six companions to preach in the Rieti valley and took lodging here. The old entrance to the village is a pointed Gothic arch, and they call it the gate of the Buongiorno because of the greeting Francis used to give the inhabitants: buongiorno, buona gente — good morning, good people. Just outside the village, on the mountainside, the sanctuary was built beside the hermitage where, that same year, he had the apparition of the angel who told him his sins were forgiven; the church holds frescoes, and in one of them the castle of Poggio Bustone is watched over by Saint Francis and Saint Anthony. Higher up the mountain runs a path of chapels which by tradition keep the imprint of objects connected with Francis, among them the print of his knee. The village remembers his passing three times a year: on the fourth of October with the passing of the tamburello, which re-enacts the greeting; on Easter Monday; and on the second of August, with the feast of the pardon.

The village is arranged in steps on the flank of Monte Rosato, narrow streets and stairways that turn into mountain paths. In 1298 the earthquake of the Rieti country razed it completely and killed a hundred and fifty people. In 1388, in the tower of the Cassero, the priors of Rieti met the representatives of Cittaducale to make peace, because the clashes between the two cities over who should hold Poggio Bustone were constant. From 1817 the village was the seat of a governorate with three comuni under it, right on the border between the Papal State and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In April 1944 there was fighting here: Nazi-fascist troops invaded the village bringing death and destruction, and for the courage of its people the comune was given the silver medal for military valour. And in 1943 Lucio Battisti was born here; his bronze statue was placed in 1999 in the park, which is called the Giardini di marzo.