Rimini
RIMINI is the least pretentious city in Italy, an archetypal seaside town, famous for a hint of vicious bliss, which puts them on a par with Blackpool and Torremolinos. The city is bold enough and multi-story, to withstand this comparison, and the abundance is obvious, but Rimini never falls into vulgar kitsch. It is rather a traditional family bathing area, to which Italians return year after year, to live in your favorite pensione and to be taken care of by the hardworking padrona di casa, treating them like relatives. There is also a second, the less pleasant side of the coin. Rimini is famous throughout Italy for its passion for thrills and stormy nightlife, and hetero thrives alongside healthier attractions.- and transsexual prostitution. The road between the station and the beach is especially full of streets. Single women - at night, at least - should be on their guard in this and some other parts of the city.
Rimini stayed in 95 percent destroyed during the war and the vast system of beaches has arisen in the last twenty years. A shoal of algae, mentioned above, it took its toll on the tourist interests of the city, but great numbers of vacationers still come here by air. And it is precisely because of the crowds and the accent of decaying that he comes here - although the city has a historic center that is ignored by visitors, which is worth spending at least one afternoon.
Drive, information and accommodation
The train station is located in the center of Rimini, in Piazzale Cesare Battisti, where you will come in ten minutes both from the sea, as well as from the old center; the main bus station is to the south not far from here, on via Clementini. Upon arrival, start with a visit to the Palazzo del Turismo EPT at the train station (YI-IX Mon.-Sat. 8.00-20.00, nd. 9.00-13.00; X-V Mon.-Sat. 8.00-14.00). They have a hotel list on there and off-peak season (the first two weeks of August), when without a reservation there is no chance for any accommodation, help to find peace. There is also an AAST office in Parco dell'Indipendenza by the sea (VI-IX Mon.-Sat. 8.00-14.00 i 16.00-19.30, nd. 9.00-12.30; X-V Mon.-Sat. 8.00-14.00), offering the same services, and outside of office hours you can study the light board outside with a list of vacant rooms.
Generally speaking, an overnight stay can be a problem. Full board and washing must be taken in hotels in high season, which can be very expensive. In the low season with some hoteliers you can negotiate the price for the room itself (about 40 000 L for two without a bathroom), but it's not a very nice period, because the city is practically dead. You can try something to find in Annarita, via the Misrata 24 (0541/25962), i Maria Thank you, via Don Bosco 11 (» 0541/23977), both in tree-lined residential streets at the back of the beach, or at Novell, via Dandolo 1 (* 0541/24724) In the old town. Near the airport, w MIRAMARE, is a youth hostel, at via Flaminia 300 (• 0541/373216), open from May to September with below prices for beds 10 000 L per person (bus no 9) - but the curfew is valid for Fr. 23.00 and you need to book a place in advance. You can also camp: the campsites are located on the railway line in Viserbella (via Colli), Pedrera Tower (Ptolemais avenue) i Rivabella (access from the main road), and also south towards Miramare (Viale Principe di Piemonte).
City
Rimini consists of two parts. The strip of land east of the train tracks is mainly occupied by holiday homes and runs along the main thoroughfare with souvenir shops, restaurants and arcades, which is running 9 km north to the suburbs Viserba and Torre Pedrera, i 7 km south - to Miramare. In low season the hotel windows are boarded up, and the neon signs are wrapped in foil to protect against the wind, Rimini's life is centered around the Parco deH'Indipendenza and the old town inland. It is the latter, for many visitors to an unknown part of Rimini, which you can reach in ten minutes walk from the train station - stone buildings grouped at the twin Piazza Tre Martin and Piazza Cavour, bordering the port canal and city embankments.
At the south end of the old center, right next to the embankments there are Ponte Tiberio and Arco d'Augustus, built respectively in the 1st century AD. i I w.p.n.e., attesting to Rimini's role as a Roman colony. W VIII w. the city passed into the hands of the papacy and was the subject of a number of disputes, which left them in the possession of the Malatesta family. Just north of this place are the two main city squares, Piazza Tre Martiri i Piazza Cavour, the latter with the statue of Pope Paul V and the Gothic Palazzo del Podesta, housing a museum of ethnography (pn., Wed. i pt. 8.00-13.00, wt., thurs. i sb. 14.00-19.00). It is worth visiting because of the very good collections of pre-Columbian and Oceania art. The city owes its most famous monument to the family of Malatesta, Malatesta Temple, east of the square on Via 4 November (IV-IX code. 7.00-12.00 i 15.30-19.00; X-III opening hours are liquid). It is a strange building from the outside, with an unfinished facade, but widely recognized as one of the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance. W 1450 r. Leon Battista Alberti rebuilt an earlier Franciscan Gothic church for Sigismond Malatesta, condittiero with a reputation for being extremely sinful, and the building is a specific combination of a private chapel and a monument to a patron. Zygmunt's long list of crimes includes rape, incest, robbery and plunder, not to mention the extreme oppression of the subjects. The temple remained rather tastelessly dedicated to St.. Francis, but the then pope, Pius II, he was not deceived and condemned pagan ornaments and the emphasis on classical hedonism, speaking of "the temple of the worshipers of Satan".
Pius II's anger was so great, that he publicly cursed Sigismond and burned his effigy in the streets of Rome. This had little effect on the condottiere, who treated the temple as a private chapel commemorating his great love, Isottę of the Acts. Their intertwined initials appear on numerous emblems next to the almost equally common emblem of the Malatestas - the elephant. Elephants blowing a trumpet with curled ears or elephants with intertwined trunks decorate the rainbows between the aisles; chubby cupids, nymphs and shepherds play together, surrounded by bunches of grapes, in a decidedly non-Christian way of indulging in pleasure.
There are also some great works of art: Crucifix, made - as it is currently believed - by Giotto, friezes and reliefs Agostina di Duccio and a fresco by Piera della Francesca - the latter, however, is currently under conservation. You can still feel it today, that the authorities are embarrassed by this building: do not see, for someone to look after her, no one had washed the graffiti off the pillars. And yet it is in some ways a suitable monument for Rimini, symbolizing the city's extravaganza.