Malatesta fortresses and castles

TorrianaMalatesta Fortressvia Castello, 15tel. 0541 675232fax 0541 639905ristoranteduetorri@libero.it• opening times: the exteriorand surrounding viewpointscan be visitedMontebelloGuidi di Bagno FortressCastello di Montebellotel/fax 0541 675180• open all yearAbove: the fortress of SanLeo. Below: the cylindricaltower of the little church ofOur Lady of Saiano.21the Mons Feretri of ancient times, is in a sense the historic capitalof the Montefeltro region, the origin of the region’s name andpossible the place of origin of the House of Montefeltro, whofought over it with the Maltesta family throughout the fourteenthand fifteenth centuries. San Leo is undoubtedly of great strategicimportance for keeping control over the surrounding territory, andwas for this reason the object of long-running battles betweenLombards and Byzantines. It was in San Leo that the conflictbetween Berengarius II and Emperor Otto I came to an end whenthe Emperor succeeded in conquering and taking possession of thetown on December 26 th 963, after a lengthy siege. In San Leo thereis genuine, unchanged evidence of the Middle Ages, in the castleand, even better, in the Cathedral and the ancient Pieve (the parishchurch), magnificent examples of Romanesque architecture.Beside the road which runs alongside the river Marecchia (theStrada Marecchiese), two picturesque crags stand guard over thevalley towards Rimini and the Romagna region: Pietracuta andSaiano. Saiano is a tall rock rising out of the river bed, crownedwith an ancient church dedicated to Our Lady. The church has atrefoil presbytery (with Renaissance frescos, sadly surviving only inpart) reminiscent of the Byzantine “celle tricore”, and a huge towerfaced with beautiful sandstone ashlars, cylindrical like the belltowersof the Ravenna churches. Cylindrical towers are notuncommon in the Montefelto region, and although they follow anancient Roman and Byzantine pattern, none of them appears todate from before the thirteenth century. Examples can be found inthe territories of Pennabilli (Maciano), Casteldelci (Torre diMonte), Badia Tedalda (Cicognaia), Montegrimano (Ca’ Manente),Sestino (Monte Romano), and Borgo Pace (Torre di San Martino).Just a little further on, almost as if to make a clear boundarybetween Montefeltro and Romagna, there stands a fortifiedbarricade: the twin hills of Verucchio and Scorticata (now renamedTorriana), on opposite sides of the valley, equipped withdefences intended to make the road impassable. These two castlesalso served for sending to Rimini (using fire and smoke as signals)information about the vast territory they were able to survey, bothtowards the sea and towards the hills of Romagna and Le Marcheand San Marino. The tower of Scorticata, an outpost of the castle,was able to send messages via the nearby castle of Montebello toSan Giovanni in Galilea, thus activating a whole chain of castlesand fortresses in the Uso and Rubicon valleys and in Rimini.It is a good idea to cross the river Marecchia at Ponte