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There is evidence dating from
the third century B.C.(pre-Roman times) of people living in the
territory of Paganico Sabino. Recently members of the Pro-Loco found
pottery remains near Mount Cervia that may have been part of
a “sacred area”. The site is awaiting excavation. The pottery
consists of fragments of small statues of cows, pigs, and body parts
such as hands and feet. This type of pottery resembles votive
statues and figures already found and documented in sites of central
Italic cult worship . It was common practice to dedicate clay
figurines depicting parts of the human body, worshippers, and everyday and
symbolic objects, to the gods. The anatomic votives were connected
not only to health and recovering from a sickness, but could also
symbolize a journey or the prayer of a worshipper. This use of human
body parts to propitiate the gods or as thanks for a cure from
disease dates back to an ancient era. These clay gifts were not
costly and were widely used by the lower classes of society,
especially between the fourth and third centuries B .C.
On May 15 1997,
to coincide with the First Provincial Cultural Week , these
artefacts were exhibited to the public in the form of iconographic
panels-ESPOSIZIONE DI PANNELLI
ICONNOGRAFICI- at the Community Center in Paganico. The
display was organised by the
Soprintendenza Archeologica of Lazio, and the Assessorato Cultura
Provinciale of Rieti, the Paganico Municipality and the Pro-Loco. A
book, “LA VALLE DEL TURANO: SULLE
TRACCE DEL ANTICO”,written by Giovanna Alvino, was
published in conjunction with this extremely successful exhibition.
Many schoolchildren were among the visitors.
Paganico also has some
Roman origins. Places where there were extant ruins of the Roman era
were called paganicum.
There is a monolith with Latin inscriptions just 2.5km from the
village near the Turano river. This “Pietra Scritta”
(see full description in Places to visit) was the sepulchral
monument of the Muttini family. Such funerary monuments date from
the last years of the Republic and the beginning of the Imperial era
i.e. the latter half of the first century A.D.
Paganico is one of the oldest
villages in the Turano Valley with a refenence to it in 852 (Regesto
Farfense- register of
the Abbey of Farfa). In document 311 in the year 873 it is
called “casale de Paganeco” and in 876, document 317, there is a
reference to “habitatores in Massa Torana, villa quae Vocatur
Paganecum”.The terms “villa” or “casale” are more likely
to denote rural dwellings than a cluster of buildings. In fact,
according to a medieval lexicon “casale” usually refers to a
building that was a center for surrounding agricultural
activities, and sometimes had defence fortifications. Surveying the
manuscripts of visits by bishops you can see place names that
reflect the topography from “Porta Castellane”- Castle Gate-
beside the church of St.Nicholas
to the mills at “Pian delle Mole”- Mill Plain.
Bishop Saverio Marini
(1779-1813) refers to
the Church of Annunziata after a pastoral visit saying “The
worshippers of St. Mary’s live above the castle and its old
foundations are part of the parish church”. The word castle was already used
by Bishop Marini to indicate the houses of the Rocca (Rock).
Thus it is probable that the parish of St.Nicholas was in a central
primitive castellated structure that was fortified from inside,
while the church of Annunziata was built on the external bulwark.
More recent information is available in the Municipal Archives. The oldest information in these archives consists of church registers of births, marriages and deaths dating from 1779 to 1860, the year of the unity of Italy and the beginning of municipal registers.