A large neolithic settlement existed in the pre-historic age, and in the early Christian era there was a lively community which left its traces in the monuments and traditions. Then with the fall of the Roman empire almost everything was destroyed, until the Lombards rebuilt the centre as a castle on the hill where it still rises. After the VIII century nereto came under the rule of the Duchy of Spoleto. An important period in the history of the territory began in 1004 with the foundation of the nearby Benedictine monastery of San Nicolò a Tordino. The monks introduced the cult of San Martino, whose image on a horse, giving his cloak to a poor man, is the symbol of the municipality. Another beautiful moment is when on 22 December 1798 the Napoleonic armies were going to invade Nereto: an old, lame woman climbed up miraculously the stairs of the belltower and rang the bells; the French troops suddenly saw a celestial army in front of them, and abndoned the town hurriedly. The miracle is represented in a fresco inside the Parish Church of the Madonna della Consolazione.

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