I am back from a late spring break in a city I had not visited in decades, and I am completely bowled over.
Do you need a destination that combines architecture and art, incredible history, long sandy beaches, and classic Italian hospitality? Discover Rimini. You'll soon understand why Italy's legendary film director Federico Fellini kept coming back year after year and shot some of his films there.
With a backdrop of gorgeous hills and plenty of cycling paths, Rimini appeals to cyclists too - and not just any cyclists. In 2024 the Tour de France departs from there!
Rimini is also very easy to reach by train from virtually everywhere in Italy, as well as from many locations across the Alps.
A view of the Roman Tiberius Bridge © Alessandro Moresco/Unsplash
Italy's classic seaside resort and so much more: Why go to Rimini
If you ask an Italian, and also many foreigners, to name the quintessential Italian beach resort, their answer is very likely to be Rimini.
Rimini's first bathing establishment was built in 1843, making it the oldest on the Adriatic Sea. The combination of mild climate, curative waters, and some delightful luxury hotels turned Rimini into a renowned tourist destination, a playground of the Italian and European aristocracy during the Belle Époque up to the outbreak of World War I. But it is postwar Rimini that is firmly in people's imagination.
It is the Rimini of the classic Italian riviera bathing establishments, where Italians rest on beach loungers under ombrelloni (beach umbrellas), taking breaks for breakfast or lunch in the well-kept bagno (the coffee shop or restaurant that provides the ombrelloni service) and shower and change in colourful cabins after bathing in the sea.
This Rimini of pampered beach holidays, night clubbing and of course, delightful food (you are in Emilia-Romagna after all) and wine, is only one side of the coin.
Rimini is one of the most interesting small cities in Italy, and I would argue of the whole of Europe, and its incredible historical centre boasts incredibly well-preserved Roman ruins, masterpieces of the Italian Middle Ages and Renaissance, museums, cinemas, hotels that are in themselves works of art, and a surrounding countryside equally rich in history and beauty.
The Italians flock to Rimini at the weekend from May to September, and for their summer holidays in July and August. Go out of these times, and you'll have the beaches to yourself and an amazing ancient city to enjoy without the crowds.
This is what I did last week - in mid-May.
Typical ombrelloni © Letizia Agosta/Unsplash
Getting There
Rimini is very well connected with the rest of Italy, by frequent fast trains (Trenitalia Frecciarossa and Italo) as well as the slower Trenitalia Regionale.
You can reach Rimini by fast train from Milano, Torino, Bologna, Venice, Rome, Naples, and Puglia, to name a few. If you are coming from Puglia, the train ride is beautiful as you will be following the Adriatic Sea for most of the journey.
Getting to Rimini from France or Switzerland is easy. From Paris, Lyon, Geneva and Zurich, all you need is a single easy change in Milano.
From Munich, there are a number of options including a direct train courtesy of the Austrian Railways. The service also stops at Innsbruck.
Check the Trainline for the best travel options.
The Tempio Malatestiano, one of Rimini's Renaissance masterpieces © Alps2Coast
Now let's look at a detailed itinerary to make the the most of your 3 days in Rimini.
My Rimini 3-day walking itinerary
It is very easy to move around in Rimini, the centre is compact and you really only need buses if your accommodation is further afield. So if you can stick to the most sustainable of all forms of transport - your own legs and feet!
If you are travelling by Regionale train, you are also allowed to bring your bicycle, which will allow you to make the most of the network of cycling paths in Rimini and explore some of the villages on the hillside.
The train station effectively cuts the city in two - the beach district is on one side of the tracks, and the ancient centre on the opposite side.
Day 1: Discover Rimini's Centro Storico
Visiting in May, the beaches can at times be cold and windy - although on other days they are gorgeous and peaceful. But by keeping your itinerary flexible and planning according to the weather, you can make the most of the city gets you around that.
My itinerary assumes that you arrive by mid morning. If you arrive later you will need to tweak it. I am also assuming your hotel is either by the beach in the Central Marina area, or in the historical centre, so all you need is take a quick detour to drop off your bags before you start exploring.
Morning
We arrived in Rimini station at around 10am, and headed straight to our hotel on the Central Marina to drop off our bags. Taking a slight detour to say hi to the beach, we followed the picturesque Porto Canale, the canal, now dotted with leisure boats, that connects the seaside to the ancient centre of Rimini, ending by the perfectly preserved Roman Tiberius Bridge (Ponte Tiberio).
En route we admired the ruins of the old city walls on our side of the canal, and the brightly coloured graffiti of the Borgo San Giuliano side, including some portraying Fellini, Rimini's proudest son.
After Ponte Tiberio, we explored one of the great landmarks of of Renaissance Rimini, the Castel Sismondo, or Rocca Malatestiana, built by no other than Filippo Brunelleschi, the architect of the Florentine dome of Santa Maria del Fiore! If we needed proof that Rimini was one of the great capitals of the Italian Renaissance, we had found it!
Castel Sismondo © Alps2Coast
The castle lies at the end of a beautiful square (Piazza Malatesta) lined with Renaissance palaces, characterful eateries, and what looked liked an open air cinema - it was being prepared when I visited, but if you visit later in the year you may be able to enjoy this classical Italian summer experience, in an urban space recently redesigned to incorporate homages to Fellini.
Speaking of Fellini, Castel Sismondo houses part of the Fellini Museum - the ticket also includes the Fulgor Cinema, where Fellini saw his first film and later immortalised in Amarcord. If you enjoy Fellini's films, it is a highly recommendable experience. Thoroughly 'staged' rooms, filled with film set props and machinery, take you on a journey through Fellini's imagination. It is an emotional and intense experience, where through Fellini's you are brought to confront human creativity - and your own!
It was time for lunch, which we had in nearby Piazza Cavour.
The Piazza is dominated by the imposing frames of the medieval late medieval Palazzo dell'Arengo and Palazzo del Podestà, but I fell in love with the Vecchia Pescheria, the ancient fish market, built in 1747.
Instead of temporary market stalls, you have an elegant structure with wooden roofs and frescoes. The fish was washed in one of the four corner fountains and displayed on beautifully polished stone slabs.
The Vecchia Pescheria © Alps2Coast
Afternoon
. After taking the cue from the surroundings and treating myself to a delicious octopus salad and white wine from the nearby hills, it was time to continue our exploration of Roman Rimini.
A word of warning, the Tempio Malatestiano and the Domus del Chirurgo are closed for lunch until mid-afternoon, so we decided to explore the outdoor wonders of Roman Rimini first.
In Roman times Rimini was one of Italy's important cities, a caput viarum - a term used to describe centres from which various Roman irradiated in different directions. From Rimini, you could travel to Piacenza and Milan on the Via Emilia, to Rome on the Via Flaminia, and to Adria and Veneto on the Via Popilia.
Even though over 80% of the city was destroyed in World War 2, what survived is incredible. In addition to the Tiberius Bridge, there is the well-preserved Arch of Augustus, the ruined arches of Porta Montanara, and the Arch of Augustus, the oldest and best preserved of its kind in Northern Italy.
The Arch of Augustus © Alps2Coast
Piazza Tre Martiri, the side of the former Roman Forum, deserves a special mention. The modern square porticoes are supported by Roman columns, while the buildings above it date from the nineteenth or even twentieth century. This mixture of styles, typical of Rome itself, never ceases to amaze me, but Rimini had one more surprise in store for me.
Roman columns, modern building © Alps2Coast
A marble stone marks the point where Caesar addresses his troops after crossing the Rubicon, pronouncing his infamous words: 'The dice is cast!'
The dice is cast © Alps2Coast
By now the Domus del Chirurgo had re-opened, so we headed there. The excavations of this Roman villa were given the name of 'Surgeon's House' because of the surgical kit discovered there by the archaeologists. The excavations lie in a covered area in the centre of leafy Piazza Ferrari. A system of transparent walkways allows you to walks above the ruins, and admire the stunning mosaics.
We finished the day by tracing our steps back in time to explore one of the masterpieces of Renaissance Rimini, the Tempio Malatestiano. When I was studying art history in art school I remember we were thought that in this building the ultimate theoretician of Renaissance architect, Leon Battista Alberti, had embodied his revolutionary views.
Working for the local lord Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Alberti transformed the romanesque-gothic church dedicated to S. Francis into a temple dedicated to 'God and city', and to the love between Sigismondo and his wife Isotta. The majestic facade is inspired by the Roman triumphal arches Alberti could admire in the city - actually some of the marble for the building may have been taken from the basis of the Arch of Augustus. Other Roman marble was taken from the ruins of nearby Ravenna. In Alberti's plan the building would culminate in a dome, but Sigismondo could not finish the work as he run into trouble with the pope.
The interior feels like it belongs to a different age as it is in gothic style, but the contrast between gothic features and the harmonious symmetric frame makes it unique. It also houses one of the few surviving works of Giotto - the crucifix behind the altar.
Giotto's Crucifixion © Alps2Coast
It was time to call it a day. We headed back to our hotel, went for a shower, and then took a sunset stroll along the beautifully redeveloped beach promenade, before a well-earned pizza!
Day 2: Beach time and timeless travels and art
Morning
It was bright and sunny when we woke up, so we decided to limit the sightseeing to a quick exploration of Borgo San Giuliano, on the other side of the Tiberius Bridge, and then enjoy the beach.
Borgo San Giuliano used to be a fishermen's suburb, and its pastel-coloured houses have retained a charm of old. But they are also one of the places where the creative energy of the Riminesi really unleased itself in recent decades. Local artists began to cover old ruined houses in graffities (murales), portraying local inhabitants and stories. Graffities are of course an ephemeral work of art, as when houses are redeveloped they are destroyed in the process, so already some of Borgo San Giulianos' murales only survive in photos. But you will feel like you are working in the midst of living art, and the energy is beautiful.
Walking to Borgo San Giuliano © Alps2Coast
We had a piadina, the traditional flatbread of Emilia Romagna, and then headed to the beach, where we relaxed for the rest of the day.
A view of the beach from our hotel © Alps2Coast
In the late afternoon, we left the beach and headed back to our hotel to get ready for another journey into Fellini's imagination - Aperitivo at the iconic Rimini Grand Hotel, Fellini not only used to stay but also immortalised it in his films.
The gardens of the Grand Hotel © Alps2Coast
Finished in 1908, it is an elegant and graceful building, with a Liberty-style facade and incredible interiors, from Murano chandeliers to elegant 18th and nineteenth-century furniture, and discreet homages to its most loved guest. For example, I was drawn to the white intricate metal chairs in the garden, only to find black and white pictures of Fellini sitting in one of them.
The garden chairs © Alps2Coast
We had a wonderful time there, and I actually wished I had made plans to stay for dinner! I guess I'll have to go back for that!
Day 3: Beach and more
Morning
We only had a half day on day 3, so we stayed on the beach, but there are plenty more museums to explore if you have more time or the weather isn't ideal. The Museo della Citta' takes you through 2 millennia of Rimini's history through its artifacts, and the Palazzo dell'Arte promises to be a treat for contemporary art lovers.
You could also take a day trip to the beautiful Riminese hills and their borghi, with beautiful Romanesque churches and mighty fortresses, such as San Leo, with its famous Rocca (castle).
San Leo © Sara Guercio/Unsplash
Another great option is visiting the nearby city state of San Marino. There are regular private buses doing the 1-hour journey.
The walls of San Marino © Iesse Photo/Pixabay
A wonderful historical getaway for sea lovers
If, like me, you love the sea and are looking for cities that allow you to be by the sea even when the weather is not perfect for a beach holiday, Rimini is the perfect destination.
Three days are just about right to enjoy the beach and appreciate its incredible cultural treasures.
I do wish I had stayed longer and revisited San Marino - I only saw it once as a child. The train journey also made me realise I would love to spend some time inland, visiting the hills. The villages all seem very picturesque. The elegant hilly landscapes have a Tuscan vibe, but they do not feel over-touristed.
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