To really know a city it is necessary to know its people, the people who live and who once lived among its streets and its buildings ... and maybe those who had them built.
Enjoying this day tour, it is possible to get to know 4 important characters in the history of Rimini through their most tangible legacies, their homes or the impressive buildings they were bound with.
A journey through 4 eras, four characters and four different structures, covering two thousand years of history in Rimini: Eutyches the Roman surgeon, Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta the lord of Rimini, Alessandro Gambalunga the patron who donated the first library to the city and Amintore Galli the composer who gave a "voice" to Rimini.
The itinerary follows a chronological order and allows you to enjoy a wider overview of the city.
The itinerary starts from one of the most important national archaeological finds from the Roman era, the "surgeon's house".
Eutyches' home is dated back around the third century AD and was brought to light in the center of Piazza Ferrari. It takes its name from the profession of its "Dominus", which became evident to archaeologists thanks to the very rich set of surgical instruments, the largest ever found. Eutyches is the first "guest" we meet, whose name is now known thanks to an inscription on his home. He was probably an oriental surgeon who had followed the Roman legions in his youth and then decided to continue his profession by settling in Rimini.
The 'domus', with the colorful mosaics and wall paintings that enriched the rooms, is today an open-air museum, visible at 360 degrees through a glass structure that defends its integrity. During the opening hours it is possible to walk inside the site and then continue the visit inside the nearby Museum of the city where the finds are kept.
Continuing towards the second stop you will come across one of the most evocative views of Rimini, the Tiberius bridge overlooking the waters that have lapped it for two thousand years and which today are part of the “Piazza sull'acqua”.
Proceeding further we come to see the mighty bastions of the Rimini fortress, Sismondo Castle, the fortified residence commissioned by Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta and that he himself designed with the advice of the great architect Filippo Brunelleschi.
Begun in 1437, the fortress is an admirable example of Renaissance military architecture, designed to be a formidable defense for the city but also a grandiose expression of his family power. It was precisely this ostentation, which also gave the city extraordinary monuments such as the castle itself or the Malatesta Temple, to bring Sigismondo, lord of Rimini, great man of arms and conqueror of a large part of Romagna, to disgrace.
Today the castle is the object of an accurate recovery and part of the future “Federico Fellini International Museum”.
The third leg of this journey is about two hundred meters from the castle and two centuries of history away.
It was the home of Alessandro Gambalunga, now the city's public library. Gambalunga was born in Rimini in the mid-16th century to a wealthy family of merchants and, thanks to his economic position, he became the promoter of an active city cultural circle. The patronage activity of the rich man from Rimini reached its peak with the construction of the new family palace and the realization of a rich collection of manuscripts and books, which, through a will, he donated to the free consultation of the citizens, on his death in 1619, actually creating one of the oldest public libraries. Today “La Gambalunga”, with its historic rooms enriched by elegant shelves, lecterns, artistic globes and the large collection of ancient illuminated manuscripts, is considered one of the most beautiful historical libraries in the world.
The last leg of this journey to discover the "celebrities" who have inhabited Rimini is not really a home but a place dedicated to an illustrious son of the city, the Amintore Galli Theater.
The Galli Theater, inaugurated in 1857 on a project by Luigi Poletti, takes its name from the composer and journalist from Rimini.
The theater, heavily damaged during the Second World War, returned to its former glory in 2018 thanks to a philological renovation that restored the structure, the stuccoes and the decorations, making it a wonderful example of neoclassical style.
Today, you can walk between the galleries and the stalls and also explore the "underground" of the theater that hosts a multimedia exhibition just where an archaeological area from the Roman era was found.
