Rimini is a city on the Adriatic coast in the Emilia Romagna region. It is the main and also more populated centre of the Romagna Riviera. It's a renowned beach resort with miles of well-equipped beaches attracting thousands of tourists throughout the year: swimming pools, restaurants, children playgrounds, leisure facilities and sports areas. In short, an amazing destination for relaxation and fun!
What to visit in Rimini
Rimini is not just sea and fun, it also boasts an historical and artistic heritage of great importance with churches, convents, villas, palaces, archaeological sites and many other monuments of Roman, Medieval and Renaissance age.
The Tiberius Bridge is one of the symbols of Rimini built under the empire of August and completed by Tiberius, as the inscription on the inner railing of the bridge indicates. It is an imposing building with five arcades and still acts as a link between the city and the village of San Giuliano. Crossing the bridge and the street Corso di Augusto, you'll get to Piazza Tre Martiri, one of the main squares in Rimini. Here, exhibitions, street markets and events take place throughout the year. Going on you can admire the imposing Arch of Augustus, the oldest arch of Roman remains and also one of the symbols of the town. The Arch, which marks the entrance to the city, was built in honour of the Emperor August to celebrate the restoration of the Italian Consular roads. Nearby there are the remains of the Roman amphitheater, the Domus del Chirurgo and the City Museum. Another important square is Piazza Cavour, where you can find the most famous public buildings among which Palazzo Garampi, Palazzo dell'Arengo and Palazzo del Podestà. In the centre there's the fountain Fontana della Pigna. One of the most famous churches is the Church of Sant'Agostino where great works of art are preserved. You should also visit the Cathedral of Santa Colomba, the Malatesta Temple and Castel Sismondo.
Typical dishes in Rimini
Rimini cuisine offers traditional dishes and many specialties based on fish, which is always fresh and cooked in different ways. Homemade pasta is the main dish: lasagne, cappelletti, tagliatelle, passatelli with soup, tagliolini, strozzapreti, ravioli, all served with meat sauces or herbs. Fish first courses are also a must! Fish soup is definitely a local dish, prepared with many fish varieties stew with tomato and spices. As for main course, you can choose from meat dishes as chicken cacciatore, roast rabbit and grilled meat to classic grilled sardines and mackerels, cuttlefish with peas and fried squid! Usually they are accompained by baked potatoes, grilled vegetables, marinate olives with wild fennel and strigoli. Other typical products of the Romagna cuisine are piadina - served with homemade cold cuts and herbs, squacquerone - a soft fresh cheese, Fossa cheese and saba, a grape syrup or cooked must used for cakes. As for dessert, I recommend the zuppa inglese, caramel figs and castagnole. The best known wines are Sangiovese, Trebbiano or Pagadebit or dry Albana. Even the extra virgin olive oil has a key role, actually Rimini boasts an olive-growing estate of 375 thousand plants producing about 3 millions of olives every year.
Ice cream
Handmade ice cream in Rimini is famous all over the world, that's why Rimini is also called the Ice cream city. Here the first ice cream parlors of the '40s are born and every year the most important ice cream fair takes place, the SIGEP.
Shopping and Baths
When talking about shopping, Rimini is on top. Shopping centres, outlets, boutiques and street markets where you can buy very fashionable outfits. In the historic centre the main shopping streets are Corso D'Augusto, Via Garibaldi and Via IX November. Here you can find the most prestigious Italian brands such as Armani, Patrizia Pepe, Luisa Spagnoli etc. For those who don't like walking around the centre, I recommend Le Befane shopping centre, which has every comfort you might need while shopping: relaxation areas, restaurants, bars, ice-cream parlors, children playgrounds, supermarkets, a cinema with 12 theatres and hundreds of shops. But that's not all...if you search for relaxation, there is a wellness centre offering many types of treatment: sauna, massages, steam bath, wraps with sea water used for body rejuvenating and relaxing. The wellness centre with baths is associated with modern bathing facilities.
Fun for adults and children
The Romagna Riviera is full of theme parks. The cities of Rimini, Riccione, Cattolica and Ravenna creates a network of 16 amusement parks that can be classified as theme parks, water parks and sea parks. In Rimini you can visit Italia in Miniatura, Fiabilandia, Skypark, Park and Museum of Aviation, Amarea and Boabay. Another attraction is the Dolphinarium, at a short walk from the beach. Finally go kart tracks, mini-motorbikes, golf resorts and the famous Panoramic wheel! This town is also a good starting point to visit other attractions nearby, such as Mirabilandia, the Aquarium of Cattolica, Acquafan and Oltremare in Riccione.
Equipped beaches
Beaches are just for everyone: families, young people and even pets. They can satisfy every need and offer many services such as playgrounds, restaurants, bars, swimming pools and mini-clubs. Sporty people will find almost any kind of playing field for Beach soccer, foot volleyball, beach volleyball, beach tennis and bocce. Water sports equipment is available for Kite surfing, sailing and wind surfing. There are many beaches dedicated to well-being with relaxation areas, auto-massaging beds, whirlpools and special treatments. For those ones travelling with their 4-legged friends, Rimini offers beaches with dedicated services! From sunset many bathing facilities turn into real open-air clubs with live music. The perfect place for happy hours with friends.
Events in Rimini
Rimini is a city full of events, fairs and culinary festivals. The most important sports events are the Riviera Beach Games, the olympic beach games and Paganello, the frisbee festival. There are many cultural events, including Festival del mondo Antico (Ancient World Festival ) and Passeggiando nel passato (Walking in the past). Among the music shows, I reccomend the Sagra Malatestiana. Concerts, film festivals and fairs dedicated to well-being are also frequent. For kitchen lovers during the summer there are organised barbecues with tastings of typical products along the coast and accompanied by dances and fireworks. The most anticipated party is the Pink night, an entire weekend coloured in pink and dedicated to fun.
