Sant'Oreste is a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' (municipality) in the

Metropolitan City of Rome Metropolitan City of Rome Capital ( it, Città metropolitana di Roma Capitale) is an area of local government at the level of metropolitan city in the Lazio region of the Republic of Italy. It comprises the territory of the city of Rome and 120 o ...

in the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

region

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, located about north of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. It faces the

Monte Soratte Monte Soratte (ancient: ''Soracte'') is a mountain ridge in the Metropolitan City of Rome, central Italy. It is a narrow, isolated limestone ridge with a length of and six peaks. Located some south east of Civita Castellana and c. north of Ro ...

, that latter has a

natural preserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

with the same name.

History

The first mention of Sant'Oreste is made by

Benedict of Soracte Benedict of Soracte (Benedict of St. Andrew) was a tenth-century Italian chronicler, a monk at the monastery on Mount Soracte. The ''Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doc ...

in his ''Chronicon'' in 747 AD, in which he mentions ''Curtis Sancti Heristi''.Comune di Sant'Oreste
/ref> One source states that the

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

derives from the family of the Aristi or Edisti. A member of this family,

Saint Orestes Saint Edistus ( it, Sant'Edisto) (also known as Aristus, Orestes, Horestes) is venerated as a martyr and saint by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. His legend states that he was martyred on the Via Laurentina and his ''passio'' p ...

(Edistus, Sant'Edisto, Sant'Oreste) was martyred for his faith around 68 AD. Linguistic corruptions transformed the name from ''Sanctus Edistus'' to ''Sanctus Heristus, Santo Resto, San Tresto, Sant'Oreste''.

References

Cities and towns in Lazio {{Latium-geo-stub