Patron saint festival In 190 days
Saint George, patron of the land of the Boncompagni Ludovisi Castle
📅 Every year, on 23 April
Riano celebrates Saint George on 23 April, in the church dedicated to him.
Riano has 9,536 inhabitants on a tuff rise north of Rome, inside the regional park of Veio. The Castrum Raiani is first recorded in 1159, when the brothers Giovanni and Berardo di Ronzone gave it to pope Adrian IV; it later passed to the abbey of San Paolo fuori le mura, which for centuries bought it, sold it and bought it back again according to the taxes it had to pay, until in the sixteenth century it ended up with the Gaddi and then with the Cesi.
On 16 August 1924, in the Quartarella scrub, the dog of a carabinieri brigadier on leave found the body of Giacomo Matteotti; on the spot where his wife Velia Titta used to come to pray and lay flowers the town later raised a monument. Above the quarry of Pian dell'Olmo, in 1985, the set designer Dante Ferretti had the abbey of the film The Name of the Rose built on a mound: it was dismantled as soon as shooting ended, and up there only a medieval ruin remains.
The Riano guide
🎉 Festivals and feasts in Riano 1
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Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Riano
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Places to see within 25 km
Outside Riano, but an easy day trip away.
Royal Palace of Caserta 📍 Caserta · 21 km The Bourbon palace: 1,200 rooms, 1,742 windows and three kilometres of fountains uphill. Ponte Leproso 📍 Benevento · 17 km Roman bridge over the Sabato where the Via Appia entered Benevento, rebuilt in 1712; UNESCO site. Basilica del Corpus Domini 📍 Maddaloni · 17 km Maddaloni's main church, with a high altar designed by Luigi Vanvitelli and panels by Pompeo Landolfo. basilica della Madonna delle Grazie 📍 Benevento · 17 km Neoclassical Greek-cross basilica to the patron Madonna of Benevento, with a Franciscan convent. teatro romano di Benevento 📍 Benevento · 17 km Roman theatre inaugurated under Hadrian between 125 and 128, with a 98-metre cavea; still used for shows. duomo di Benevento 📍 Benevento · 17 km Cathedral rebuilt after its destruction in 1943, keeping the Romanesque façade, bell tower and ancient crypt.