By Catherine Sabino

While there are enough attractions in Rome to keep you busy no matter how long your vacation, should you want to escape the hustle and bustle of the Eternal City, or are looking for new parts of Italy to explore, you don’t have to travel far to do so. About an hour’s drive northeast of Rome, you’ll come across the Sabina, or Sabine Hills, a pastoral region that runs east of the Tiber to the base of Appenines, offering a get-away-from-it-all tranquility, rural landscapes, medieval villages, Roman ruins and a long tradition of producing superb olive oil.

History here runs very deep—the area was once home to the Sabines, an ancient Italic tribe whose fortunes and misfortunes, according to lore, were intricately entwined with the Roman Republic … continue reading