Village of Labro, Rieti Province, Italy

© Marco Ilari/Shutterstoc

History awaits atop the hill. Village of Labro, Rieti Province, Italy

Join us for a journey to a tiny Italian village about 43 miles northeast of Rome. Founded sometime between the 9th and 10th centuries, the village of Labro, having been assigned to a powerful aristocratic family by Emperor Otto the Great, only covers a little over 4.4 square miles. Perched atop a wooded hill, the Nobili-Vitelleschi castle originally served to secure the border and control communication routes in the valley below. Labro is now almost purely a tourist destination, having been restored for the purpose shortly after WWII when the village almost evaporated due to mass depopulation.