Emilia-Romagna · Rimini
Santarcangelo di Romagna
A Via Emilia hill town on the Marecchia plain, with over 150 tufa caves under the centro and a Malatesta fortress on its summit.
- Best time
- Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct
- By car
- 17 min from Rimini
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 22,148
Known for
GROTTE TUFACEE
Over 150 man-made caves on eight levels under the centro, in continuous use from pagan rites to wartime shelters.
FESTIVAL DEL TEATRO
International street theater festival running every July since 1971, the longest-running in Italy, founded by Roberto Bacci and others.
TONINO GUERRA
Screenwriter for Fellini, Antonioni, and Tarkovsky, born here in 1920, his Strada delle Meridiane runs through the centro.
PESCA E NETTARINA DI ROMAGNA
The commune lies inside the Pesca e Nettarina di Romagna IGP production zone.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct
- J10°
- F13°
- M14°
- A17°
- M22°
- J28°
- J31°
- A30°
- S25°
- O21°
- N14°
- D10°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
The festa: Michele, 29 September
Why come
Santarcangelo di Romagna sits on a low hill between the Marecchia and the Uso rivers, eleven kilometers northwest of Rimini on the Via Emilia. Roman in origin, named Pagus Acervolanus, the town grew under the Malatesta of Rimini, who fortified the hill in 1386 with the Rocca Malatestiana that Carlo Malatesta built and contemporaries called an eighth wonder of the world. Under the centro storico, over 150 man-made caves on eight levels cut into the soft tufa rock form an underground city: pagan place of worship, burial chambers, wine cellars, and in 1944 air-raid shelters that saved most of the population.
The town gave the world two dialect poets, Raffaello Baldini and Tonino Guerra, whose verses earned Santarcangelo the title capital of Romagnolo dialect poetry. Guerra, also Fellini's screenwriter, designed the Strada delle Meridiane that runs through the centro. The Festival Internazionale del Teatro in Piazza, founded in 1971, fills the streets every July.
The Sunday letter
Santarcangelo di Romagna 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 every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Santarcangelo di Romagna comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.
Read on
Santarcangelo di Romagna in our articles
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The best towns known for what they grow within an hour of Rimini9 towns, Santarcangelo di Romagna among them.
The best towns known for what they grow within two hours of Ancona9 towns, Santarcangelo di Romagna among them.
The best towns with a serious restaurant that eat well within 90 minutes of Rimini10 towns, Santarcangelo di Romagna among them.
How to get there
From Rimini (RMI), about 42 minutes by car.
Ancona / Pescara (AOI) is about 1h 19m away.
By car from the centre of Bologna 1h 23m or Ancona 1h 31m.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming from Bologna or Florence?
Coming by train into Rimini? Santarcangelo di Romagna is about 17 minutes away by road.
What to see
Rocca Malatestiana
Hilltop fortress built by Carlo Malatesta in 1386, with the surviving keep, walls, and the Torre del Campanone over the centro.
Grotte Tufacee
Over 150 man-made caves on eight levels cut into the tufa under the centro storico, used as pagan sanctuaries, wine cellars, and 1944 air-raid shelters.
Piazza Ganganelli
Central square named for Pope Clement XIV (Giovanni Ganganelli, born here in 1705), with a triumphal arch from 1779.
Collegiata di Santarcangelo
Eighteenth-century collegiate church, holding the Compianto sul Cristo Morto attributed to the school of Niccolò dell'Arca and a Bellini crucifix.
Teatro Il Lavatoio
Town theater inside a converted nineteenth-century public washhouse, base for the Festival Internazionale del Teatro in Piazza since 1971.
Museo del Bottone
Eccentric private museum opened in 2008, holding over 18,000 buttons from the Napoleonic period to contemporary fashion houses.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Santarcangelo di Romagna fits in a slow Italy circuit.
Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.
We recommend
Where to eat
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Osteria La SangiovesaTrattoria
Osteria La Sangiovesa holds three Gambero Rosso prawns and a spot in the Michelin Guide.
LazarounRistorante
Lazaroun holds a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Through the year
What happens here
Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.
Fiera di San Michelemarket
usually held in September. TrovaSagre
Living here
- Population 22,148
- Commuter belti
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest airport Rimini, 42 min drive
- Regional capital Bologna, 1 h 23 min drive
Common questions
- What is Santarcangelo di Romagna known for?
- Santarcangelo di Romagna is a Via Emilia hill town on the Marecchia plain, with over 150 tufa caves under the centro and a Malatesta fortress on its summit.
- Where is Santarcangelo di Romagna?
- Santarcangelo di Romagna is a comune in the province of Rimini, in Emilia-Romagna, at 42 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Santarcangelo di Romagna?
- Rimini (RMI), about 42 minutes by car.
- Can you get to Santarcangelo di Romagna without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Bologna to Santarcangelo di Romagna?
- About 1h 23m by car.
- When is the best time to visit Santarcangelo di Romagna?
- Best in Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 11 rain days.
- Is there a sagra or a festival in Santarcangelo di Romagna?
- Yes. Fiera di San Michele. September is when the first of them falls.
- Which other towns are like Santarcangelo di Romagna?
- Collecchio, Gorgonzola and Spilamberto.
- How many people live in Santarcangelo di Romagna?
- 22,148 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 42 m
- Population: 22,148
- Surface area: 45.01 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.
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