riccione

Riccione countryside

Riccione is one of the main sea holiday resorts in Italy but also offers a wide range of nature and culture tours all year round.

The area interland at Riccione has, for many years now, attracted cycle tourists from all over Europe due to its breath-taking landscapes, the stunning tours of varying difficulty on offer and genuine, delicious gastronomy.

But a holiday at Riccione is more besides: you can discover the history and culture of the people that live in the villages and towns of a region rich in grand monuments, folklore and art crafts.

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Saludecio

A few kilometres far from the Adriatic Coast, on a gentle hill of the Valconca, 348 m above sea level, rises Saludecio.
Medieval village, in the middle of the crown of the Malatesta’s fortresses, Saludecio is a commune in the province of Rimini.
Stronghold of the Malatesta, shelter for pilgrims, capital of the valley in the Renaissance, the traces of the vivid past are kept within the walls.

The toponymy is uncertain: some scholars have involved Decius Trajan, the Roman emperor who here found a shelter, some other Saint Laodicio, to which an ancient church was dedicated, some other the Latin saluticius, fertile soil.

Also the foundation is uncertain, but it is likely that there was a Roman settlement.
What is certain is that in the twelfth century Saludecio was subject to the Church and that in the thirteenth it was long disputed by the Malatesta of Rimini who finally managed to extend their domination on the village.

In the thirteenth century lived in Saludecio the Blessed Amato Ronconi, a Franciscan Friar of the third order, who founded the Hospital of Santa Maria di Monte Onciale, a shelter for pilgrims (nowadays a rest home).
The assaults to the hill by the Montefeltro were numerous, but only in the fifteenth century they managed to rip the village to the Malatesta in order to give it to the Church.
In the sixteenth century lived in Saludecio Publio Francesco Modesti, Sebastiano Serico and other humanists: under their impulse the village became the cultural and political capital of the valley.
Saludecio also experienced the domination of the Borgia, of Venice, and of the Della Rovere.
Then he returned to the Church, until its annexation to the Kingdom of Italy.

Montebello

Montebello rises on a calcareous cliff, typical of the landscape of Valmarecchia, 436 m above sea level.

From the top of the mountain the imposing fortress of the Guidi di Bagno dominates the valley.
The legend of the ghost of Azzurrina, albino little girl who mysteriously disappeared in the basement of the fortress in the Middle Ages, attracts thousands of tourists.

In the province of Rimini, hamlet of the commune of Torriana, and a few kilometers far from there, it is on the border with the Marche.
Within the walls the village keeps intact the medieval structure.

Crossed by foot the only gate, you will have the feeling that time has stopped for enchantment.
Another incomparabile sensation is offered by the beautiful view of the scenery of the surroundings.

The settlement, of the third century b.c., is of Roman foundation.
The erection of a lookout tower and the name of Mountain of war, from the Latin Mons Belli, underlined its strategic-military fonction.
Hard fought by the local potentates, it belonged to the Malatesta since 1186 and was by them fortified.
Captured by the Montefeltro in 1393, it became property of the Malatesta again in 1438 thanks to an assault that was led by Sigismondo Pandolfo.
The Montefeltro and the hostility of Pope Pius II Piccolomini decreed the capitulation of the family of Rimini in 1462.

In 1463 the Castle of Montebello was enfeoffed to the family of Guidi di Bagno, that still today is the legitimate owner.
The military fort built by the Malatesta around the year 1000 was by the Guidi transformed into elegant building.

Today the Fortress offers tourists the alternative of visit during the day or night.
The valuable furniture, the collection of coffers and chests (including a painted cash dating back to the Crusades), the mysterious tunnels, fascinate.
What fascinates the most is “Azzurrina’s Gallery” where the legend of Guendalina and of her ghost is told.
The small daughter of Ugolinuccio Malatesta in an afternoon of storm in the summer solstice in 1375 vanished in the mystery running after her ball.
The recording of “laughters, child games, 12 tollings of bells, the fast beat of a heart” gives the shivers.
These are the sounds that here would be heard in the summer solstice of the years ending for 0 or 5 and that nourish the legend.

Sights: the Civic Tower and the “Armeria dell’Albana”, an ancient Roman church that has been used for a lot of different functions and is used today as a wine shop.

To visit: the Museum of the fortress exhibits works of art, furniture and the important jewellery collection of the family Guidi di Bagno.

Places of worship: the Church of St. Peter Apostle, the ancient church of the castle, keeps an organ, a frontal and paintings of the eighteenth century.

For people who love nature: ancient paths around the walls (Passo Volpe, Passo del Sasso, Torricini).
You cannot miss the oasis of Montebello, established in 1993 to protect a landscape that is rich in flora and in numerous species of wild animals.
Extended over 1200 hectares the oasis houses the Naturalistic Observatory of Valmarecchia.
Three trails along the road between Montebello and Torriana lead to the rock of Saiano, also reachable by the river bed.

For gourmets: renowned restaurants and inns with traditional or elaborate menus.

Curios: the residents of Montebello are thirty and they only are allowed entering to the village with motorized means.
Comfortable parkings outside the walls are available to visitors.
Much less comfortable was the access to the village for people that, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, had the misfortune of running up against the bandit Tommaso Rinaldini, better known as “Mason dla Blona”, then beheaded in Ravenna by papal troops.

Torriana

Torriana rises on a rocky spur in Valmarecchia, m 337 above sea level.
Hanged on the impracticable cliff, it was called “Scorticata” until 1938.
Stronghold of the seigniory of the Malatesta, it was an important centre of light signallings for the valley in the twelfth century.
Today Torriana is commune in the province of Rimini and has for hamlet the near village of Montebello, known for the castle of the Guidi di Bagno and for the legend of Azzurrina.

From the top the ruins of the fortress and of the sighting tower, of the XIII century, welcome visitors already in the distance.

The ancient village, of Villanovan foundation, was inhabited since ancient times and its stretegic location was long contended.