Sabina | |
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 Landscape of Sabina atNorcia. | |
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| Country | Italy |
| Elevation | 600 m (2,000 ft) |
Sabina (Latin:Sabinum), also called theSabine Hills, is a region in centralItaly. It is named after Sabina, the territory of the ancientSabines, which was once bordered byLatium to the south,Picenum to the east, ancientUmbria to the north andEtruria to the west. It was separated from Umbria by the River Nar, today'sNera, and from Etruria by the RiverTiber.
Today, Sabina is mainly northeast ofRome in the regionsLazio,Umbria andAbruzzo.Upper Sabina is in the province ofRieti (Poggio Mirteto, Magliano Sabina,Casperia, Montopoli di Sabina, Torri in Sabina, Cantalupo in Sabina, Montebuono, Forano, Poggio Catino, Montasola,Stimigliano, Castelnuovo di Farfa, Fara in Sabina,Roccantica, Mompeo, Salisano,Cottanello, Configni, Vacone, Tarano, Collevecchio, Toffia, Poggio Nativo,Scandriglia ecc.).Sabina Romana is in the province ofRome (Mentana, Monteflavio, Montelibretti,Monterotondo, Montorio Romano, Moricone, Nerola, Palombara Sabina). Part of Sabina is in the regions ofUmbria (territories of Narni, Amelia, Cascia, Norcia, partially Upper Valnerina, etc.) andAbruzzo (from Valle dell'Aterno toL'Aquila).
The Sabines who lived in two of theSeven Hills of Rome (theQuirinal andViminal) formed part of the population of Rome (together with the Latins who lived on the other hills) at the time of its foundation.[citation needed] The second king of Rome,Numa Pompilius, was fromCures, the capital of Sabina.
During the reigns of the Roman kingsAncus Marcius andTarquinius Priscus the Sabines attacked Roman territory several times. This also occurred during the early period of theRoman Republic.[citation needed]
After the Third Samnite War (298-290 BC), the Romans moved to crush the Sabines. TheRoman consulManius Curius Dentatus pushed deep into Sabina in the area between the rivers Nar (today’s Nera, the main tributary of the River Tiber) and Anio (Aniene, another tributary of the Tiber) and the source of the River Avens (Velino). Spurius Carvilius confiscated large tracts of land in the plain around Reate (today’sRieti) andAmiternum (11 km fromL'Aquila), which he distributed to Roman settlers.[1] Florus did not give the reasons for this campaign. The modem historian Salmon speculates that "it might have been because of the part they [the Sabines] had played or failed to play in the events of 296/295 [BC]."[2] That is, they let the Samnites cross their territory to go to Etruria and join forces with theEtruscans,Umbrians andSenone Gauls. Forsythe also speculates that it may have been a punishment for this.[3]Livy mentioned that Dentatus subdued the rebellious Sabines.[4] The Sabines were given citizenship without the right to vote (civitas sine suffragio), which meant that their territory was effectively annexed to the Roman Republic. Reate and Amiternum were given full Roman citizenship (civitas optimo iure) in 268 BC.
In theAugustan division of Italy, Sabina was included in the region IVSamnium. WithDiocletian's late 3rd-century administrative reforms, Italy became aRoman diocese and was subdivided intoRoman provinces. Sabina became part of the province of Samnium.Constantine the Great turned Italy into apraetorian prefecture and subdivided it into two dioceses. Sabina fell under the diocese ofItalia suburbicaria as the province ofValeria. With theLombard invasion of Italy in theEarly Middle Ages, the territory of Sabina became part of the LombardDuchy of Spoleto. With theByzantine reconquest of central Italy, it came under theDuchy of Rome of the ByzantineExarchate of Ravenna. With the rise of thePapal States, Sabina was governed directly by thepontificate or indirectly, by thecounts of Sabina, a title of the nobleCrescentii family in the 10th and 11th centuries. During the late 9th to early 10th century, the region was, along with much of central Italy, a stronghold of, or threatened by theSaracens.[5]
The extra virginolive oilSabina is, chronologically speaking, the first ItalianProtected Designation of Origin (PDO) oil to gain the certification from theEuropean Community, the production of olives and oil is a millennial tradition in Sabine.
In 1996, theItalian government designated the vineyards around the Sabine Hills as aDOC wine region eligible to produce red, white androsé wine as well as somesweetsparkling wine from whitegrape varieties. The grapes are limited to aharvest yields of 12 tonnes/ha. Red androsé wines are a blend of mostly 40–70%Sangiovese, 15–40%Montepulciano with other local varieties permitted up to 30%. The white wines are a blend of at least 40%Trebbiano and at least 40%Malvasia with other local grape varieties permitted to make up to 20% of the remaining blend. Red androsé wines must have a minimumalcohol level of 11% with whites having a minimum of 10.5%.[6]
Sabina has been the seat of aCatholicbishopric since the 6th century, though the earliest names in the list of bishops may be apocryphal.
The official papal province of Sabina was established underPope Paul V in 1605. TheCardinal Bishop of Sabina is one of the sixsuburbicariantituli (not counting Ostia) of theCollege of Cardinals which carry the rank of Cardinal Bishop.
Since 1925 the Cardinal Titular Church of Sabina has been joined to that ofPoggio Mirteto, a municipality of the region, and officially namedSabina e Poggio Mirteto, since 1986Sabina–Poggio Mirteto. The current (since 2000) Cardinal Bishop of Sabina-Poggio Mirteto isGiovanni Battista Re.
Henry James, American author, visited on horseback at the end of January 1872. The area was bright and alive. It was charged "to the supersensuous ear, with the murmur of an extinguished life". He also noted to his family that "I can stick on a horse better than I supposed".[7]
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