If Sigismondo Malatesta a well-known 15th Century Lord of Rimini came back, what would he make of Rimini today? Apart from some of the obvious variations between the renaissance city of Malatesta and the modern city these days, (Malatesta’s castle is nonetheless standing) the presence of cars, modern buildings and electrical lighting would probably amaze him. The most incredible thing although apart from the above would probably be Rimini’s move to the coast.The city of Rimini in Malatesta’s era had its defences inland which ran around what is today known as the centro storico. When Sigismondo Malatesta came to power he decided a change was in order and promptly embarked on a vast developing programme which included the TempioMalatesta – one of the finest examples of neo-classical architecture in Europe – and his enormous and extremely contemporary fortress, the Rocca Malatesta. The city of Malatesta was constructed on top of the current city – in other words on the site of the Roman city of Ariminum which was founded in the year 286 B.C. Malatesta utilized the existing Roman monuments at the time, including the famous Ponte di Tiberio and Arco d’Augustoand incorporated them into his city. These well-known monuments can nonetheless be seen today on your trip to Rimini.Taking a walk about Rimini today, Malatesta would find the stunning sandy beaches and their magnetism quite puzzling during the summer time months. Back in Malatesta’s day the practice of lying in the sun on the beach and going for a dip would have been strange if not dangerous as the beaches back then had been locations for smuggling and brigandry as they had been away from the city of Rimini’s primary defences. Italian cities just likeRimini were often at war with each other and were in continuous conflict with their neighbours. Malatesta, throughout his life was in a continuous power struggle with Federico da Montefeltro, Lord of Urbino and also the Pope.We also know that Pope Pius II excommunicated Sigismondo in 1460 declaring him a heretic.So when did Rimini begin to turn out to be a city that is, for Italians and the numerous vacationers from the world over, synonymous with sun, sea, and sand? In his fascinating study of the history of sea bathing in Rimini – Una costa lunga due secoli (Panozzo Editore), Professor Feruccio Farina, of the University of Urbino, sheds light on one of the initial tourist to take a dip in the stunning sea in Rimini. Her name was Elisabeth Kenny, and she was the young Irish wife of a Roman noble. Professor Feruccio Farina says that she is recorded as getting visited the city of Rimini in the summer time month of August of 1790 (more than 300 years following the death of Sigismondo Malatesta), and stayed for more than two weeks to benefit from the wonderful sea air and waves.Rimini is 1 of those classic holiday destinations for Italians and tourist alike. Rimini has been blessed with sun, sand and sea as nicely as culture. The classic beach holiday and culture holiday coexist right here in Rimini much to the delight of all that arrive right here. Rimini is easily reached by numerous direct flights from numerous cities around Europe.To discover even more about cosa visitare a rimini, see our site.