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Basilica of St Augustine in Rieti: mendicant Romanesque and frescoes for pilgrims
The Basilica of Sant’Agostino has stood in Piazza Mazzini since 1252, the year of the first documented presence of the Augustinian Hermits in Rieti. These were the years of the city's greatest splendor, known as the umbilicus Italiae (the navel of Italy). The Hermits settled along one of the main transit routes to Rome to welcome pilgrims. Elevated to a Minor Basilica in 2010, it is one of the “mendicant” churches in Rieti that has best preserved its original exterior.
What to see
The Romanesque façade is sober and square, featuring a portal with small columns and a frescoed lunette. The interior consists of a single nave ending in three polygonal apses illuminated by double- and triple-light windows. Fragments of frescoes from the 14th to the 16th century survive on the walls, forming a didactic figurative cycle—a sort of Biblia Pauperum (Poor Man's Bible). Notable works include a 14th-century wooden crucifix, the Ecstasy of St Rita by Lattanzio Niccoli (1643), and the Massacre of the Innocents by Ludovico Carosi (1712). The adjoining convent once housed the first site of the Rieti Civic Museum and the Paroniana Library.
