Cascata delle Marmore

In ancient times, the Velino River fed a wetland in the Rieti Valley. In 271 BC, in order to reclaim the land (and to possibly remove the supposed threat of malaria to the nearby city of Rieti), the Roman consul Manius Curius Dentatus ordered the construction of a canal (the Curiano Trench) to divert the stagnant waters over the cliff near Marmore, thus directing it into the Nera River below.