(see previous).
(ANSA) Rieti, March 2 - Officials in the city of Rieti
cited classical authors Virgil and Pliny Monday in support of
their dismissal of a rival claim by Narni to be the exact centre
of Italy.
"Rieti is the centre of Italy because in the classical
world it was considered such," said Rieti local historian
Roberto Lorenzetti.
"The Latin classics identified Rieti as Umbilicus Italiae,
something much more important than the cold geometric
measurement of Narni".
"The problem is that Rieti wasn't good at taking advantage
of the historic (and not geographical) fact except with
unpresentable building projects".
Classical authors quoted as dubbing Rieti the capital of
the Italian boot include Virgil and the historian Pliny while
medieval geographers calculated Rieti was 52 miles from the
Adriatic sea and the same distance from the Tirennian sea as
well as 310 miles from Augusta Praetoria (Aosta) and the same
distance from Cap dell'Armi (Calabria).
Later the belly button of Italy was determined to be in
Rieti's Piazza San Rufo and the measurements were until 1800
sculpted in granite before a pontifical brigadier, Giuseppe
Capelletti, had them removed and replaced with an inscription
"Medium Totius Italiae".
That inscription was in turn replaced in 1950 with a
plaque saying "Centre of Italy" in 20 languages.
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