If you think that there are no more the witches of once upon a time, we invite you to spend the nights from 20 to 24 June 2008 in San Giovanni in Marignano.

The lovely village in the province of Rimini, will certainly change your mind with the Night of Witches, a great festival all magic, mystery, strange bubos on long noses and besoms parked here and there.

In order to safeguard ancient legends and traditions from oblivion of time, the Municipal Administration celebrates the summer solstice by bewitching citizenship and tourists with the rituals that have long accompanied nature in that particular astral passage.

Along the alleys and squares of the village, from sunset till late in night, you will be fascinated by the evocative performances of popular street theatre that will stage the mysterious, the superstition and the magic of the past.

On the market stalls you will find magical stones, crafts, a lot of garlic and natural products.

Among them, the herbs of St. John, that in the tradition, were picked still laden with dew in the switching between the night and the day of the solstice, when the marriage that at that time joined the sun and the moon made them rich in benign influences.

With some great St. John’s wort at the buttonhole also children will fearlessly approach the focal point of mystery, the cavern of witches who will complete the witchcraft with its fortune-tellers, chiromancers and diviners.

The peak will be reached on the night of 24, the feast of St. John the Baptist, with music, gastronomic stands and the spectacle of bonfires in the valley.

San Giovanni in Marignano, easily reachable with motorway A14 - exit Cattolica, a few kilometers from Riccione, is the ideal place to start the summer with a renewed charm.

After the magical fun of the Night of Witches, we will be happy to welcome you in the best hotels in Riccione where, away from suggestions and spells, you will sleep easy.

Ah! No wonder for the vacuum cleaner that someone has forgotten in the corridor: also witches have made progress!

If a walk in the green is for you a therapy for the soul, in the hinterland of Riccione you will reach the peace of senses.

The Oasis of Montebello, the River Park of Marano, the Natural Reserve of Onferno, the Arboreto of Mondaino and the Park of the Quarry, are the natural reserves that, a few kilometres from the coast, offer you a lot of fresh and evocative trails, ideal for your excursions.

The Oasis of Montebello, in the municipality of Torriana, has been recognized by the European Union as a sensitive area from the environmental point of view.
Created in 1993 to protect a landscape that is very interesting for its vegetation, for the many species of wild animals and for its geological peculiarity (the presence of gaseous formations), the oasis covers 1200 hectares and is home to the Natural Observatory of Valmarecchia.

In the River Park of Marano, in the municipality of Coriano, you will come into contact with a rich and seductive flora and along the paths you will probably run across specimens of small mammals, hear the cuckoo and see the kingfisher diving into the water of the river to eat.

The Natural Reserve of Onferno, in the municipality of Gemmano, is known for its caves.
Along the underground way you will be guided through the canyons and the bottlenecks that were created from the erosive water and you will reach the greatest natural spectacle of the giant clusters of crystal.

We suggest hiking shoes and heavy sweat.

The Arboreto of Mondaino, in its nine hectares of forests, has more than five thousand plants that are representative of the Mediterranean bush.
It hosts the Dimora Theatre and its workshops of theatre and dance.

The Park of the Quarry, in the municipality of Poggio Berni, is situated near a fossil field of which it fosters the findings.
For guided tours you must book at least five days in advance to the office of tourism.

Not only trekking therefore in the hinterland of Riccione, but a fresh and enveloping embrace by nature which, so protected, can really be a cure for your soul.

Two special Sundays.

If next Sunday advancing in the Riccione back-country will happen to you to see a picnic, a little further another one, then another, do not think it is an hallucination.

Nothing could be more real: since ten years in the two central Sundays of May, the agricultural landscape of Emilia-Romagna gets busy not for magic but thanks to Fattorie Aperte.

The event, sponsored by the Emilia-Romagna Region and become a model to imitate, returns on 11 and 18 May, 2008 and to celebrate the tenth anniversary invites everybody to discover also the naturalistic and historical-cultural routes surroundings.

In the province of Rimini 15 farms open their gates to reveal a world and give a day out to people who know very little about that environment: 3 are situated along the coast and 12 on the hills. Chosen the route you like more, from our hotels in Riccione it will be easy to reach the Open Farms of the province and to transform your stay in a gastronomic holiday.

You will taste the typical products of Romagna, suffer the charm of ancient folk traditions, learn the secrets of the harvesting and of the processing of foods and buy them at the source.

The collateral events are many: entertainment shows, visits to vineyards, fields or workshops, games of ancient time, organized excursions.

We suggest comfortable clothes and the reservation if you want to dine in some farm holidays.

In 1999, more than six thousand people visited farms open to the public, last year more than sixty thousand.

Born with the aim to promote good and healthy products of our farms and make people more conscious of their food consumption, over the years the tourist exploitation of a territory so rich from the historical, artistic and environmental point of view has become an integral part of the event.

Following the routes proposed for the 10th year of Fattorie Aperte, your Sundays really will be special.

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 inland 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.

You can visit important historical buildings, masterpieces such as the majestic forts that symbolize the power of two great seigniories of the Middle Ages and Renaissance: Malatesta and Montefeltro.

Sigismondo Malatesta and Federico da Montefeltro were responsible for much cultural and artistic development, countless works for tourists to discover on a fascinating and exciting “treasure hunt” around Romagna and Le Marche: the Caccia delle Signorie (The Seigniory hunt).

Valmarecchia: Malatesta’s reign
Le Marche: Montefeltro’s cradle

To discover the prominent traces left by the Montefeltro family you need to go to San Leo (PU), situated atop an enormous insurmountable rocky outcrop: the only way to get there is via a road cut into the rock.

At the very top of the spur is the impregnable Fort built on the orders of Federico III da Montefeltro; it was converted into a prison during papal rule and the count Cagliostro and Felice Orsini were imprisoned there.

Famous visitors to the town were Dante and St Francis of Assisi: you can still view the room where the two men conversed.

There is no end to the architectural wonders: the Pre-Romanesque parish church, a XII century Lombard Romanesque Cathedral, the fort; the Museum of sacred art recently installed in Palazzo Mediceo, the ruins of several castles, including those of Pietracuta and Piega, the Monte di Pietracuta Dominican convent, and Montemaggio church with its magnificent lacunar ceiling.

San Leo offers one of the region’s most beautiful and characteristic panoramic view of the surrounding mountains and down the Marecchia valley to the sea.

Urbino (PU), cradle of the Renaissance, also offers valuable works attributed to Montefeltro’s times: the entire town, a world heritage site boasting some of the most famous and talked about masterpieces in the world, still greatly retains the magnificence enjoyed by Federico and his court.