Borgo San Giuliano

As soon as you cross the Tiberius Bridge you arrive in Borgo San Giuliano, the old fishermen's quarter of Rimini, at the start of the via Emilia. Its narrow streets are full of low, colourful houses, many with painted walls, including scenes and characters from Federico Fellini's films.

The district takes its name from the church of San Giuliano, on via San Giuliano. Its earliest traces are those of a 9th-century Benedictine abbey, built on the remains of a pagan temple; today's building was reconstructed between 1553 and 1575 in the Venetian classical style.

On the high altar is the Martyrdom of Saint Julian by Paolo Veronese, and on the third altar on the left is the polyptych of Saint Julian by Bittino da Faenza. In the centre of the apse you can see the Roman marble sarcophagus which, according to tradition, arrived in Rimini from Dalmatia with the body of the saint.

The beauty of the district is getting lost without hurrying: a stroll on foot, a stop at an osteria and then the return to the centre crossing the Roman bridge once more.