The Tiberius Bridge, Borgo San Giuliano, the Arch of Augustus, the Domus of the Surgeon, the Tempio Malatestiano and Piazza Cavour.
Behind the Rimini of beaches lies a two-thousand-year-old city: two Roman monuments still standing at either end of the main street, a Roman house with a surgeon's tools and the temple commissioned by Sigismondo Malatesta. You walk on the flat, from the bridge to the old fishermen's quarter, all the way to the arch: a route suitable for everyone, even in the afternoon after the beach.
Times are a guide: driving times are worked out without traffic, then come the visits and ten minutes at every stop to park. In summer towards the coast and at rush hour allow extra time.
Begun under Augustus in 14 AD and completed under Tiberius in 21 AD, it is built of Istrian stone and has five arches. For almost two thousand years carts, armies and cars have crossed it: in 1944 it even withstood the mines laid by the retreating Germans. Today it is pedestrianised and overlooks the Piazza sull'acqua, the basin of the old port, with walkways over the river.
Always accessible, free admission.
The fishermen's quarter, just beyond the bridge: low, colourful houses, narrow lanes and little squares. On the walls are murals dedicated to Federico Fellini and the characters from his films, from Amarcord to La dolce vita. Every two years, in September, the quarter holds its festival, the Festa de Borg.
This was the forum of the Roman city, where the cardo and decumanus intersected. The little temple of Sant'Antonio commemorates, according to tradition, the miracle of the mule that knelt before the host. The square's name comes from the three partisans hanged here in August 1944.
Built in 27 BC to celebrate Augustus, who had the via Flaminia restored, the road that came here from Rome: it is the oldest surviving Roman arch. On both sides are medallions with deities; the battlements at the top were added in the Middle Ages. It was the city's entrance gate.
Always visible.
Discovered in 1989 in Piazza Ferrari, this is the house of a 3rd-century AD doctor, possibly named Eutyches. You walk above the mosaic floors thanks to a glass covering. The unique piece is his collection of over 150 surgical instruments, the richest to have come down to us from the Roman world, displayed in the nearby Museo della Città.
Combined ticket with the Museo della Città; closed on Mondays: check opening times.
This is Rimini's cathedral. Around 1450 Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta asked Leon Battista Alberti to encase an old Gothic church with a façade like a Roman arch: it remained unfinished, but is one of the manifestos of the Renaissance. Inside are sculptures by Agostino di Duccio, the Crucifix painted by Giotto and the fresco by Piero della Francesca showing Sigismondo kneeling before San Sigismondo. The tombs of Sigismondo and Isotta degli Atti are here.
Free admission, outside service times.
The town hall square, with the Palazzo dell'Arengo from 1204, the Palazzo del Podestà, the Teatro Galli reborn in 2018 and the Fontana della Pigna, which Leonardo da Vinci noted in his notebooks in 1502. A short walk away is Castel Sismondo, the fortress that Sigismondo Malatesta had built from 1437, now part of the Fellini Museum.
On Wednesday and Saturday mornings there is a market in the surrounding streets.
How long it takes from each town, the drive back included. Tap a town to see the plan from there.
Almost every old town has a limited traffic zone (ZTL) with cameras: park outside and walk in. The fine reaches your home, abroad too. ZTL and car parks town by town
Romagna Transfer picks you up at your hotel, drops you in front of every stop and brings you back: no parking, no ZTL, and the wine is yours to enjoy.
The Fellini Museum between Castel Sismondo and Palazzo del Fulgor, the Fulgor cinema, the murals of the Borgo, the Grand Hotel and the director's tomb.
6 h 00 from Castel San Pietro Terme Half day
The plan
The tufa caves, the Marchi printing workshop with its mangle, the Ganganelli Arch and the castle of the Azzurrina legend.
6 h 05 from Castel San Pietro Terme Long half day
The plan
The Rocca del Sasso and the Villanovian museum in Verucchio, the Forte di San Leo with Cagliostro's cell, the Pieve and the Duomo.
6 h 50 from Castel San Pietro Terme Full day
The plan
Tonino Guerra's Places of the Soul, the Dalai Lama's bell, the Rocca Fregoso and Sant'Agata's wooden theatre
6 h 30 from Castel San Pietro Terme Long half day
The plan
The Rocca and walls of Gradara, where tradition places the love story sung by Dante, and the Rocca Malatestiana of Montefiore.
6 h 10 from Castel San Pietro Terme Long half day
The plan
The Ducal Palace with the National Gallery of the Marche, Raphael's house and the Oratory of San Giovanni.
6 h 40 from Castel San Pietro Terme Full day
The planTrips written by our editors from the facts of our monument pages and the official sites. Opening days and hours change: the note under every place tells you what to check before you leave. No prices: you find them on the museums' sites.
