Emilia-Romagna · Rimini
San Giovanni in Marignano
A walled Conca-valley borgo, granary of the Malatesta state, where the Notte delle Streghe has marked the summer solstice since 1988.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why San Giovanni in Marignano is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct
- By car
- 23 min from Rimini
- Population
- 9,441
- J10°
- F12°
- M14°
- A17°
- M21°
- J27°
- J30°
- A29°
- S25°
- O21°
- N15°
- D11°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
San Giovanni in Marignano sits on the low Conca-valley plain, five kilometers inland from Cattolica and twenty kilometers south of Rimini. Ravenna monasteries reclaimed the marshy ground in the twelfth century, and from the late thirteenth century the village became the principal grain reserve of the Malatesta state. More than two hundred fosse del grano survive beneath the centro storico, underground pits dug along the main streets under the shelter of the medieval walls, used from the 1400s onward for cereal storage.
The Malatesta-period walls are still legible in long sections. The town gives onto the legend of Saint John's Eve: witches were said to pass through here on their summer-solstice journey toward Benevento. Since 1988 the Notte delle Streghe in late June has filled the borgo with reenactments, fire rituals, and crowds from across the Riviera, marking the opening of the Romagna summer.
How to get there
From Rimini (RMI), about 38 min by car.
Ancona (AOI) is about 55 min away.
By car from the center of Ancona 1 h 8 min or Bologna 1 h 32 min.
Coming by train into Rimini? San Giovanni in Marignano is about 22 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Rimini airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Centro storico fortificato
Walled medieval nucleus on the rectangular Malatesta plan, with surviving sections of fourteenth-century walls and two gates on the main axis.
Fosse del grano
Over two hundred medieval grain pits beneath the streets, dug from the fifteenth century onward to store cereal as part of the Malatesta granary system.
Chiesa di San Pietro
Eighteenth-century parish church on the main piazza, with a wooden crucifix from the school of Donatello and a Renaissance baptismal font.
Teatro Massari
Late-nineteenth-century horseshoe-plan theater in the centro storico, restored in 1996 and active with a small annual prose and music program.
Living here
Could you live here?
San Giovanni in Marignano meets our one rule for a small town.
- 9,441 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Pesaro, a city of 95,266, is 24 min by car. Closer than our 30 to 60 minutes: handy for everything, so check the town still keeps a life of its own.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 9,441, up 1% since 2015
- Nearest city Pesaro, 24 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Cattolica, 4 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,600 to €2,400 per m² to buy, €5.70 to €8.50 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 78% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Rimini airport (RMI), 38 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Bologna, 1 h 32 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
8% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Albania, Romania and Ukraine, against 9% across Italy. 28 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. There are 205 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 17% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Rimini province ranks 51st of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Riccione, 8 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Rimini, 18 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Rimini, 18 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax at the 2025 rate, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds between 0.77% and 0.8% to your income tax, depending on your income, with nothing due on income under €10,000. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Emilia-Romagna spends about €2,500 a month, €560 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €604 a year for water, on the Emilia-Romagna average. In Rimini, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.36, a meal in a pizzeria €12.64 and a man's haircut €22.02.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 4% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 7% in a high or medium one. Under 1% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
MALATESTA GRANARY
Over two hundred underground grain pits beneath the streets, the cereal reserve of the Malatesta state from the fifteenth century onward.
NOTTE DELLE STREGHE
Summer-solstice festival held since 1988 around the legend that witches stopped here on their journey to Benevento on Saint John's Eve.
WALLED CASTRUM
Rectangular Malatesta-plan castrum with fourteenth-century walls, two surviving gates and the original axial street layout in the Conca plain.
Common questions
- What is San Giovanni in Marignano known for?
- San Giovanni in Marignano is a walled Conca-valley borgo, granary of the Malatesta state, where the Notte delle Streghe has marked the summer solstice since 1988.
- Where is San Giovanni in Marignano?
- San Giovanni in Marignano is a comune in the province of Rimini, in Emilia-Romagna, at 29 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to San Giovanni in Marignano?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Rimini (RMI), about 38 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Ancona to San Giovanni in Marignano?
- About 1 h 8 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit San Giovanni in Marignano?
- Best in Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and January the wettest, with about 10 rain days.
- Which other towns are like San Giovanni in Marignano?
- Fontanellato, Busseto and Montagnana.
- How many people live in San Giovanni in Marignano?
- 9,441 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is San Giovanni in Marignano a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, San Giovanni in Marignano is a small town that meets our one rule. The nearest city, Pesaro, is 24 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Cattolica, 4 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 78% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
The numbers
- Elevation: 29 m
- Population: 9,441
- Surface area: 21.37 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists San Giovanni in Marignano appears in
Similar
Towns like San Giovanni in Marignano
What all six share with San Giovanni in Marignano: in the Po valley · between 3,000 and 10,000 people · near sea level
The letter
San Giovanni in Marignano is on our list. Its letter is still to come.
We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter: the photo, what is worth eating, and when to turn up. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when San Giovanni in Marignano comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Gubbio, 66 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.