Rimini in 3 minutes: Best Things to Do and See

Piazza Cavour (Rimini) | Photo © Alex Gullotta, via Flickr

With its wonderful landscapes and archaeological treasures, loud quarters and enchanting piazzas, RIMINI is maybe one of the most beautiful cities in Emilia Romagna.
Dynamic, friendly, people-oriented, and always keeping up with times, this little gem of the Romagna Riviera is famous all over the world for being the undisputed hub of fun, especially during the hot Italian summers.

A suggestive and bright skyline made of thousands of hotels frames the golden beaches, offering amazing views of the Adriatic. Going towards the city centre, inside what remains of the old walls, there is still a beating hurt that recalls at full-rhythm the ancient history of this city.
As many other Italian city centres, even Rimini finds its root deep in the Roman history, who founded it towards 268 BC.
Strolling around the streets of the city centre, the old Roman streets can still be glimpsed all over: it is a real open-air museum that from Piazza Tre Martiri leads us with a few steps to one of the most important archaeological finds of the city.

Arch of Augustus (Rimini)

First is the Arch of Augustus, built in 27 BC as a commemorative monument to homage Emperor Octavian, it was majestic access point along the path that linked Rimini to Rome through Via Flaminia. Secondly, the Bridge of Tiberius, an old crossing of the river Marecchia and the beginning of Via Æmilia, is still today, after more than 2000 years, accessible on foot or by car.

Not far from there, Piazza Ferrari is housed in one of the most important examples of ancient art in the city, the Surgeon’s House, a Roman Domus dating back to the Imperial Age that, thanks to the musealization carried out some years ago, can be visited, walking on suspended bridges, and admiring in this way all its mosaic floors, the medieval tombs, and amazing relics.

Not only Romans, but also many other peoples and rulers stopped in Rimini: from the Byzantines to the Lombards, from the Malatestas to the Venetians; each of them has left incredible traces in the urban fabric that are still living in the today’s city centre.

During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Rimini was under the rule of the Malatestas, one of the most important noble families in Italy. The Malatesta Fortress (also known as Castel Sismondo) dates back to that period, and it was built by Sigismondo Pandolfo as his dwelling-place, while at a few steps from Piazza Tre Martiri is the Malatesta Temple. The cathedral of the city as it stands in the present day, was assigned to architect Leon Battista Alberti, and hosts artworks of great value such as the Crucifix by Giotto or some interventions by Piero della Francesca, Giorgio Vasari, and Agostino Duccio.

Borgo San Giuliano (Rimini) | Photo @ Riminiturismo

Rimini, however, is also memory, being a city of fishers and merchants that was able to reinvent itself and prove its value more than once over the centuries. Just make a stroll through the old benches of the fish market (called La vecchia Pescheria), passing taverns, cellars, and modern restaurants, or look in the little and suggestive village of San Giuliano: you will soon realize that it is a popular quarter made of silence, clothes hanging under the sun, tiny little pastel-coloured houses, excellent restaurants and the creativity of the best street-artists.

But Rimini is even far more than that: Rimini is Federico Fellini, the city of birth of the greatest Italian film-maker of all times; Rimini is tradition and good food; Rimini is the capital of relaxation and active holidays; Rimini is the undisputed master of the so-called “movida” ― nightlife, but it is also a first-rate centre for fairs and congresses.