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.

Pomp and a big urban development characterized the nineteenth century.
After a large exodus to the coast in the second half of the twentieth century, the village has flourished again thanks to the strong agricultural and handicraft vocation and the tourist exploitation of the territory.
In the 80s the beauty of the landscape that surrounds the village claimed everyone’s attention and the interesting naturist project “Saludecio center of medicinal plants and herbal studies” was born.
Today Saludecio is one of the most important agricultural centers of the territory of Rimini.
On its hills there is the highest number of olive trees of the province.
Kept the medieval town planning imprint, with the walls, the bastions and two access gates surrounding the beautiful alleys, the profile of Saludecio is indented by the bell towers and the Civic Tower.
Where once stood the fortress of the Malatesta today raises the nineteenth municipal complex.

Among the elegant noble buildings: Albini Palace and Riminucci Palace.

Places of worship: the Church of Saint Biagio, eighteenth century, one of the finest of the territory of Rimini, is also the Sanctuary of the Blessed Amato Ronconi (whose body is kept in a crystal shrine) and houses the Museum of Sacred Art.
At the highest point of the village the Church and the Convent of the Gerolomini.

The country hosts a permanent herbarium and a botanical garden.

Sights: to see the vault of heaven the Astronomical Observatory of Santa Maria del Monte, opened Wednesday and Saturday evening.

Events: around April 25 Saluserbe, event dedicated to nature and herbs, a spring must of the hills of Rimini, with its fanciful green menus.
The May 8 Feast of the Blessed Amato.
The second Sunday of May the Whole roasted pig Festival.
In August “Ottocento Festival” with historical commemorations, antiques and operettas.
The second Sunday of October, the Festival of nuts, with ballroom dance.

For people who love nature: hiking in the valley of the Tavollo river or to reach the ruins of the medieval castles of the hamlets of Cerreto and Meleto.

For gourmets: restaurants, inns and rural houses with excellent meat (autochthonous bovine and of little lamb of Sardinian race), the thin “piadina” of Rimini with “pecorino cheese” or various kinds of cold meats and salami (of pig of Romagna race) and the ancient dessert “bustrèng”.
Excellent wines (sangiovese, trebbiano, rebola) and the extra vergine olive oil.

Curios: Giovanni Boccaccio in a tale of the “Decameron” makes the protagonist Tedaldo degli Elisei use the pseudonym of Philip from San Lodeccio.
Since 1991 in Saludecio there is the tradition of murals, that are realized during the “Ottocento Festival”.
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