Fortezza di San Leo

The rock of San Leo is a natural fortress: sheer rock faces on all sides and only one way in. The Romans built the first fortification here, and in the Middle Ages it was fought over by Byzantines, Goths, Franks and Lombards. Between 961 and 963, Berengar II, King of Italy, shut himself up here under siege by Otto I: for those two years San Leo was effectively the capital of the kingdom.

In 1441 the very young Federico da Montefeltro conquered the fortress with a daring climb. Then, when cannons made the old towers useless, he entrusted Francesco di Giorgio Martini with redesigning it: the result was the round towers and sloping walls you see today, designed for crossfire. Pietro Bembo called it a fortissimo propugnacolo e mirabile arnese di guerra.

Under the Papal States the fortress became a prison. The most famous prisoner was Giuseppe Balsamo, the Count of Cagliostro, an alchemist and adventurer condemned by the Inquisition: he arrived in 1791 and died here in 1795, locked in the cell of the Pozzetto, which you entered through a trapdoor in the ceiling. After him the patriot Felice Orsini also passed through.

Today the visit takes you through the museum rooms, the weapons, the prisons and Cagliostro's cell, up to the walkways. From the top you can see the whole Valmarecchia valley, San Marino and, on clear days, the sea at Rimini. From the village to the fortress it's just a few minutes on foot.