Itineraries Santarcangelo

With its noble and austere aspect Santarcangelo is a magic town. Read its century-old history, visit its thousand-year old monuments such as the parish Church, or the entangled net of secret subways, and you’ll understand why. Traditions have been passed down for generations and are still very alive, and that’s probably one of the reasons why Santarcangelo is the capital of dialectal poetry and culture and still holds country fairs such as San Michele (in September) and San Martino (in November). You shouldn’t fail to visit the numerous churches, the wide Piazza Ganganelli, the tiny alleys in the historical part of town, the Malatesta Fortress, the subways, the Ethnographic Country Museum and “Customs of the people from Romagna”, one of the most important
demo-ethno-anthropological collections in the region of Emilia Romagna.

Curiosities
Santarcangelo… simply a special town!
Santarcangelo di Romagna is a very special town indeed: only 7 km from the beach, 20 km from Cesena and 10 km from the center of Rimini, it is off the old Via Emilia (SS 9) and it is easy to reach from wherever you’re coming. It owes its name to Archangel Michael and in 1862 the town council deliberated to spell it out in one word, to distinguish it from the many other Italian towns that bear the same name. Santarcangelo’s early settlement developed around the most ancient monument in town, the parish Church, but, due to the barbaric invasions, it soon moved toward the hill called “Monte Giove” and spread toward the plain around 1700, roughly defining the town we see now. Santarcangelo’s territory, half flat and half hilly, and the half noble half peasant soul of its people, make the town a very special place. You’ll see it in its monuments, in its mysterious subways, in its ancient traditions, and taste it in its superb cuisine. Finally, the most special feature of this town is having kept its country fairs as if time hadn’t elapsed: each year they attract thousands of people and spread the renown of Santarcangelo wider and wider.

Fairs and Events
There is proof of country fairs taking place in Santarcangelo di Romagna as early as 1272, but it seems that they started being held much earlier, in Roman times. Certainly the most ancient one is the "Bird Fair” (Fiera degli uccelli, on 29th September), but the most important one, for the town and for all the Rimini area, the whole of Romagna and the Marecchia River, is St Martin’s Fair. This incredible country fair, visited by thousands of people, takes place on 11th November – that is St Martin’s day – and preserves all of its ancient features derived from country culture: a wide open market, a farming machine exhibition, amusements and rides, buskers and story-tellers alongside with meetings and exhibitions of various kinds usually concerning traditions and memory. St Martin’s fair also offers a wide range of gastronomical elements, as food is of capital importance in country culture. It’s the chicken fair (and chicken on the spit is a ritual and succulent specialty); it’s the wine fair (as it takes place concurrently with the tapping of new wine), it’s the food and excitement fair, a celebration of pleasure and conviviality, and for that reason in recent years one more event has been added to the official country fair program, “Palio della Piadina” (Piadina Bread Competition). Piadina is the traditional unleavened bread from Romagna that looks like “…the face of the moon hit askance by the light…” (as in a poem by N. Pedretti); in this competition men and women, young and old, compete in making piadina bread under a tent turned into a culinary lab. Participants (singularly or in couples) have to roll out and cook at least three piadinas according to local traditions. Five “severe” jurors judge which Piadina bread is the best both hot and cold. Aside from food, traditionally St Martin’s Fair is the cuckold fair. There is a provoking symbol right under the monumental Arch of Clement XIV in the central town square: a nice set of horns, which is what identifies a cuckold in Italian culture. Everybody likes to laugh and joke about this symbol, which has always been regarded with anxiety and a lot of complicity, but only up to a certain point… So, the fair hosts the famous “cuckold race” and during the fair you can see the traditional walk under the Arch.


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