Most people know Rimini for its beach, but a few streets inland lies a Roman town with an arch and a bridge that are still in daily use after two thousand years. Rimini is also the city of the Malatesta lords, of Dante's doomed lovers and of Federico Fellini. Here are the facts and stories that make Rimini special.
10 curiosidades sobre Rímini
- Una ciudad romana de frontera: Roma fundó aquí la colonia de Ariminum en el 268 a. C., en el límite de su territorio, como base para expandirse hacia el norte de Italia.
- Donde se cruzan dos grandes calzadas: la Vía Flaminia, que venía de Roma, terminaba en Rímini, y la Vía Emilia, construida en el 187 a. C., salía de aquí hacia el noroeste hasta Piacenza.
- Italy's oldest surviving Roman arch: the Arch of Augustus was built in 27 BC to honour Augustus and marked the end of the Via Flaminia. The battlements on top were added in the Middle Ages.
- Un puente con dos mil años de tráfico: el Puente de Tiberio se empezó bajo Augusto y se terminó en el 21 d. C. Sus cinco arcos de piedra de Istria siguen llevando gente de una orilla a otra.
- A Roman surgery under a city square: in 1989 workers landscaping Piazza Ferrari found the Domus del Chirurgo, a doctor's house destroyed by fire in the 3rd century. About 150 bronze and iron surgical instruments were recovered.
- Una iglesia que es un monumento al amor y al poder: el Tempio Malatestiano fue remodelado desde la década de 1450 por Leon Battista Alberti para Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta. Nunca se terminó, y la S y la I entrelazadas de Sigismondo y su amante Isotta aparecen por todas partes.
- Condenado por un papa: el papa Pío II acusó a Sigismondo de una larga lista de crímenes y en 1462 mandó quemar efigies suyas en Roma.
- Fellini's hometown: Federico Fellini was born in Rimini in 1920, and his film Amarcord is based on memories of his youth here. The Fellini Museum opened in 2021 in Castel Sismondo and the Fulgor cinema.
- A seaside pioneer: Rimini's first bathing establishment opened in 1843, and the Grand Hotel, which Fellini filmed and loved, followed in 1908.
- A legend on the river: the Bridge of Tiberius is also called the Devil's Bridge. Legend says the devil built it in exchange for the first soul to cross, the townspeople sent a dog, and the furious devil left marks that people still point out on the stone.
La historia de Paolo y Francesca
Rimini's most famous story comes from Dante's Inferno. Around 1275 Francesca da Polenta of Ravenna was married, for political reasons, to Giovanni Malatesta, known as Gianciotto, the lame son of the lord of Rimini. She fell in love with his younger brother Paolo. Dante has Francesca tell how the two were reading the tale of Lancelot and Guinevere together when they kissed for the first time. Gianciotto found them and killed them both, probably in the 1280s. Dante, who knew the families, met the lovers in the second circle of Hell, swept along forever by a storm of wind. Several castles in the region claim to be where it happened, but the story has made Francesca da Rimini a heroine of operas, paintings and poems ever since.
La Piazza Tre Martiri, en pocas palabras
Piazza Tre Martiri stands on the site of the Roman forum, where, according to tradition, Julius Caesar spoke to his soldiers after crossing the Rubicon in 49 BC. The square is named after three young partisans hanged here by the Nazis in August 1944. On one side stands the small octagonal Tempietto di Sant'Antonio, which recalls a legend: St Anthony of Padua is said to have held up the Eucharist before a doubter's mule, which knelt in front of it. The clock tower on the square was later fitted with a perpetual calendar.
Qué comer en Rímini
- Piadina romagnola: un pan plano y fino hecho a la plancha y doblado sobre jamón, queso o verduras. Tiene protección de la UE desde 2014.
- Squacquerone: un queso fresco muy blando de la Romaña, el relleno clásico de la piadina con rúcula e higos.
- Passatelli: gruesas hebras de pan rallado, huevo y parmesano, prensadas con un hierro especial y cocidas en caldo.
- Strozzapreti: pasta enrollada a mano cuyo nombre significa estranguladores de curas, a menudo con salchicha o marisco.
- Sangiovese di Romagna: the region's everyday red wine, good with grilled meat and with piadina.
Antes de ir
- Cross the Bridge of Tiberius to Borgo San Giuliano, an old fishermen's quarter with murals inspired by Fellini's films.
- The Tempio Malatestiano is Rimini's cathedral and an active church, so visits pause during services.
- La Domus del Chirurgo forma parte del museo de la ciudad. Comprueba los días de apertura antes de ir.
- San Marino es una excursión fácil en autobús desde la estación de Rímini.
Descubre Rímini con World City Trail
Nuestra búsqueda del tesoro en Rímini convierte estos lugares en un juego en tu móvil. La ruta une 10 paradas y dura unas dos horas, con unos 34 minutos a pie, y te lleva por el Arco de Augusto, el Tempio Malatestiano y la Piazza Tre Martiri.
En cada parada resuelves un acertijo y escuchas una historia breve, a tu ritmo. Puedes empezar cuando quieras.
Juega a la búsqueda del tesoro de Rimini →
Datos comprobados en octubre de 2026.