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Founding
Founding of Rimini
Italian comune
- 268 BCE
- Europe
Founding
Italian comune
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Rimini ( RIM-in-ee; Italian: [ˈriːmini] ⓘ; Romagnol: Rémin or Rémne; Latin: Ariminum) is a city and municipality (comune) in the region of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy. As of 2026, with a population of 150,774, it is Italy's 26th-largest city.
Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is one of the most notable seaside resorts in Europe, with a significant domestic and international tourist economy. The first bathing establishment opened in 1843. The city is also the birthplace of the film director Federico Fellini and the nearest Italian city to the Republic of San Marino.
The ancient Romans founded the colonia of Ariminum in 268 BC, constructing the Arch of Augustus and the Ponte di Tiberio at the start of strategic roads that ended in Rimini. During the Renaissance, the city benefited from the court of the House of Malatesta, hosting artists like Leonardo da Vinci and producing the Tempio Malatestiano. In the 19th century, Rimini hosted many movements for Italian unification. Much of the city was destroyed during World War II, and it earned a gold medal for civic valour for its partisan resistance. In recent years, the Rimini Fiera has become one of Italy's largest sites for trade fairs and conferences.
The area was inhabited by Etruscans until the arrival of the Celts, who held it from the 6th century BC until their defeat by the Umbri in 283 BC. In 268 BC at the mouth of the Ariminus (now called the Marecchia), the Roman Republic founded the colonia of Ariminum.
Ariminum was seen as a bastion against Celtic invaders and also as a springboard for conquering the Padana plain. The city was involved in the civil wars of the first century, aligned with the popular party and its leaders, first Gaius Marius, and then Julius Caesar. After crossing the Rubicon, the latter made his legendary appeal to the legions in the Forum of Rimini.
As the terminus of the Via Flaminia, which ended in the town at the surviving prestigious Arch of Augustus (erected 27 BC), Rimini was a road junction connecting central and northern Italy by the Via Aemilia that led to Piacenza and the Via Popilia that extended northwards; it also opened up trade by sea and river.
Remains of the amphitheatre that could seat 12,000 people, and a five-arched bridge of Istrian stone completed by Tiberius (21 AD), are still visible. Later Galla Placidia built the church of Santo Stefano.
That Rimini is of Roman origins is best illustrated by the city being divided by two main streets, the Cardo and the Decumanus (as remains of a graeco-roman grid plan).
The end of Roman rule was marked by destruction caused by invasions and wars, but also by the establishment of the palaces of the Imperial officers and the first churches, the symbol of the spread of Christianity that held the important Council of Ariminum in the city in 359.
When the Ostrogoths conquered Rimini in 493, Odoacer, besieged in Ravenna, had to capitulate. During the Gothic War (535–554), Rimini was taken and retaken many times (see Siege of Ariminum). In its vicinity the Byzantine general Narses overthrew (553) the Alamanni. Under the Byzantine rule, it belonged to the Duchy of the Pentapolis, part of the Exarchate of Ravenna.
In 728, it was taken with many other cities by Liutprand, King of the Lombards but returned to the Byzantines about 735. Pepin the Short gave it to the Holy See, but during the wars of the popes and the Italian cities against the emperors, Rimini sided with the latter.
In the 13th century, it suffered from the discords of the Gambacari and Ansidei families. The city became a municipality in the 14th century, and with the arrival of the religious orders, numerous convents and churches were built, providing work for many illustrious artists. In fact, Giotto inspired the 14th-century School of Rimini, which was the expression of original cultural ferment.
The House of Malatesta emerged from the struggles between municipal factions with Malatesta da Verucchio, who in 1239 was named podestà (chief magistrate) of the city. Despite interruptions, his family held authority until 1528. In 1312 he was succeeded by Malatestino Malatesta, first signore (lord) of the city and Pandolfo I Malatesta, the latter's brother, named by Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, as imperial vicar of Romagna.
Ferrantino, son of Malatesta II (1335), was opposed by his cousin Ramberto and by Cardinal Bertrand du Pouget (1331), legate of Pope John XXII. Malatesta II was also lord of Pesaro. He was succeeded by Malatesta Ungaro (1373) and Galeotto I Malatesta, uncle of the former (1385), lord also of Fano (from 1340), Pesaro, and Cesena (1378).
His son, Carlo I Malatesta, one of the most respected condottieri of the time, enlarged the Riminese possessions and restored the port. Carlo died childless in 1429, and the lordship was divided into three parts, Rimini going to Galeotto Roberto Malatesta, a Catholic zealot inadequate for the position.
The Pesarese line of the Malatestas tried, in fact, to take advantage of his weakness and to capture the city, but Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Carlo's nephew, who was only 14 at the time, intervened to save it. Galeotto retired to a convent, and Sigismondo obtained the rule of Rimini.
Sigismondo Pandolfo was the most famous lord of Rimini. In 1433, Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, sojourned in the city and for a while he was the commander-in-chief of the Papal armies. A skilled general, Sigismondo often acted as condottiero for other states to gain money to embellish it (he was also a poet). He had the famous Tempio Malatestiano rebuilt by Leon Battista Alberti. However, after the rise of Pope Pius II, he had to fight constantly for the independence of the city.
In 1463, he was forced to submit to Pius II, who left him only Rimini and little more; Roberto Malatesta, his son (1482), under Pope Paul II, nearly lost his state, but under Pope Sixtus IV, became the commanding officer of the pontifical army against Ferdinand of Naples. Sigismondo was, however, defeated by Neapolitan forces in the battle of Campomorto (1482). Pandolfo IV, his son (1500), lost Rimini to Cesare Borgia, after he was ousted from power, the city fell to Venice (1503–1509), but it was later retaken by Pope Julius II and incorporated into the Papal States.
After the death of Pope Leo X, Pandolfo returned for several months, and with his son Sigismondo Malatesta held a rule which looked tyrannous even for the time. Pope Adrian VI expelled him again and gave Rimini to the Duke of Urbino, the pope's vicar in Romagna.
In 1527, Sigismondo managed to regain the city, but in the following year the Malatesta dominion died forever.
At the beginning of the 16th century, Rimini, now a secondary town of the Papal States, was ruled by an Apostolic Legate. Towards the end of the 16th century, the municipal square (now Piazza Cavour), which had been closed off on a site where the Poletti Theatre was subsequently built, was redesigned. The statue of Pope Paul V has stood in the centre of the square next to the fountain since 1614.
In the 16th century, the 'grand square', which was where markets and tournaments were held, underwent various changes. A small temple dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua and a clock tower were built there, giving the square its present shape and size. Rimini is said to be the place where Anthony of Padua performed the "Miracle of the Fishes," preaching to an attentive audience of fish after the people of the city ignored him.
Until the 18th century raiding armies, earthquakes, famines, floods and pirate attacks ravaged the city. In this gloomy situation and due to a weakened local economy, fishing took on great importance, a fact testified by the construction of structures such as the fish market and Rimini Lighthouse.
In 1797, Rimini, along with the rest of Romagna, was affected by the passage of the Napoleonic army and became part of the Cisalpine Republic. Napoleonic policy suppressed the monastic orders, confiscating their property and thus dispersing a substantial heritage, and demolished many churches including the ancient cathedral of Santa Colomba.
The troops of Joachim Murat, King of Naples, marched through Rimini on 30 March 1815. In a last attempt to gain allies before his defeat in the Neapolitan War, Murat published the Rimini Proclamation, one of the earliest calls for Italian unification. In 1845, a band of adventurers commanded by Ribbotti entered the city and proclaimed a constitution which was soon abolished. In 1860, Rimini and Romagna were incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy.
The city was transformed after the 1843 founding of the first bathing establishment and the Kursaal, a building constructed to host sumptuous social events, became the symbol of Rimini's status as a tourist resort. In just a few years, the seafront underwent considerable development work, making Rimini 'the city of small villas'.
During World War I, Rimini and its surrounding infrastructure was one of the primary targets of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. After Italy's declaration of war on 15 May 1915, the Austro-Hungarian fleet left its harbours the same day and started its assault on the Adriatic coast between Venice and Barletta. The 1916 Rimini earthquakes, on 17 May and 16 August, led to the demolition of 615 buildings in the city, with many historic churches severely damaged. 4,174 people were displaced between Rimini and Riccione. On 19 October 1922, Riccione was separated from Rimini to form a separate comune.
In World War II, Rimini suffered sustained Allied aerial bombardment from November 1943 until its liberation on 21 September 1944. 82% of Rimini's buildings were destroyed, the highest figure among Italian cities with over 50,000 inhabitants. Around 55,000 refugees fled to the north, to the hinterland, and to San Marino, where they sheltered in the country's railway tunnels. As the Allied frontline approached the city, naval bombardment followed, and remaining citizens hid in makeshift shelters or in caves by the Covignano hill. Partisan resistance was also notable in Rimini, with official reports of 400 young people involved in resistance cells. On 16 August 1944, three partisans were hanged in Rimini's central square, which would later be renamed in their honour. The Battle of Rimini was a major engagement in the Gothic Line. Oliver Leese, the British Eighth Army's commander, called the advance to liberate Rimini "one of the hardest battles of the Eighth Army ... comparable to El Alamein, Mareth, and the Gustav Line (Monte Cassino)". Within 37 days of the battle, over 10,000 soldiers had died between the Allied and Axis forces. For its role in liberating Rimini, the 3rd Greek Mountain Brigade was awarded the honorific title "Rimini Brigade". 1,939 Allied soldiers, of which 1,413 are British, were buried in the Coriano Ridge War Cemetery in Coriano. 114 Greek soldiers were buried in a cemetery in Riccione's Fontanelle area, and an Indian cemetery with 618 burials is located on the San Marino Highway.
Following Rimini's liberation, reconstruction work began, culminating in huge development of the tourist industry in the city.
In 1956, Bellaria-Igea Marina was separated from Rimini to form a separate comune.
Rimini is situated at 44°03′00″ north and 12°34′00″ east, along the coast of the Adriatic Sea, at the southeastern edge of Emilia-Romagna, at a short distance from Montefeltro and Marche. Rimini extends for 135.71 square km and borders the municipalities of Bellaria-Igea Marina, San Mauro Pascoli, and Santarcangelo di Romagna towards NW, Verucchio and Serravalle, San Marino towards SW, Coriano towards S, and Riccione towards SE.
Rimini is the main centre of a 50-kilometre (31-mile) coastal conurbation, which extends from Cervia to Gabicce Mare, including the seaside resorts of Cesenatico, Gatteo a Mare, Bellaria-Igea Marina, Riccione, Misano Adriatico and Cattolica. The conurbation is a result of urban sprawl as the tourist economy developed along the riviera romagnola.
Rimini's natural geography provides a strategically-important passage along the Adriatic Sea at the boundary between northern Italy, characterised by the plains of the Po Valley, and central Italy, characterised by more mountainous terrain. For its geographical position and its climatic features, Rimini is situated on the edge between the Mediterranean and the central European microclimates, providing an environment of notable naturalistic value.
Rimini's coastal strip, made of recent marine deposits, is edged by a fine sandy beach, 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) long and up to 200 metres (660 feet) wide, interrupted only by river mouths and gently shelving towards the sea. Along the coastline, there is a low sandy cliff, created by the rising sea in around 4000 BC, partly conserved north of Rimini, between Rivabella and Bellaria-Igea Marina, approximately 1.3 kilometres (0.81 miles) from the coast.
Rimini's ancient coastline was situated much farther inland: it gradually shifted outward over centuries, with new land developed throughout the 20th century.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Rimini”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.