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Pozzaglia Sabina: Prehistoric Caves, Dragons and the Patron Saint of Nurses
Pozzaglia Sabina is a village of 300 inhabitants in a wooded hollow at the foot of Monte Fàito (1,225 m), in the Sabina area of Rieti. The village was the birthplace of St Agostina Pietrantoni, patron saint of nurses in Italy since 2003. She was born here in 1864 under the name Livia, and was killed at the age of thirty while caring for tuberculosis patients at the Santo Spirito Hospital in Rome. Her remains were returned in 2004 to the Church of San Nicola di Bari, and placed next to the baptismal font where she was baptised. Her childhood home is now a museum.
Two Caves, Two Stories
The Grotta Pila, on Monte Frainili, is a natural 40-metre-wide cave with stalactites and stalagmites. Inside, finds dating from the Neolithic to the Copper Age have been uncovered — burials and pottery vessels — and it is an important site for the study of bats. The Grotta di San Michele Arcangelo (Cave of Archangel St Michael), by contrast, has a legend attached to it: here the warrior saint is said to have slain a dragon. A small rock-hewn church has grown up around the cave.
The Romanesque Abbey and the Santacroce Arch
On the sixth stage of the Way of St Benedict, the remains of the Abbey of Santa Maria del Piano can be seen, with its bell tower still intact and its Latin cross ground plan. In the historic centre of the village, La Porta — a round arch in limestone — is the ancient gateway to the castle, built by the Marchesi Santacroce family in the first half of the 17th century.
The Sagra della Polenta is held on 1 November each year in Pietraforte, with pork ribs and sausages providing the topping.
