NEAR THE CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING TRACK on Terminillo, a winter resort famously developed by Italian Dictator Mussolini in the 1930s, a mysterious medieval sword stands as a testimony to an ancient local legend.

The sword is set in the stone in an area known as “Cinque Confini” (Five Borders), at a spot where traditionally the territories of five towns met. Those towns are Rieti, Cittaducale, Micigliano, Borgovelino, and Castel Sant’Angelo.