Sightseeing tour of San Leo - the city of Cagliostro

The great Dante, who visited in 1306, said that it is possible to reach San Leo, but for this you need to have wings. Thus, he emphasized the impregnability of the city, located on the top of a high cliff (589 meters). San Leo, the most important and beautiful fortress city, of all available in the historic province of Montefeltro. But the locals can actually fly. Would you like to try? Well, we'll talk about that later if it's interesting.

This small town has a very rich history. Even the Romans founded here an ancient city called Montefeltro (Mons Feretrius) in the III century AD on the site of the already present pagan temple of Jupiter Feretrio (Giove Feretrio). At the end of the third century, San Leo came to this region from Dalmatia with his friend Saint Marino to preach Christianity. By the way, the state of San Marino, founded by Saint Marino, is only 20 km from San Leo. The great Dante, who visited in 1306, said that it is possible to reach San Leo, but for this you need to have wings. Thus, he emphasized the impregnability of the city, located on the top of a high cliff (589 meters). San Leo, the most important and beautiful fortress city, of all available in the historic province of Montefeltro. But the locals can actually fly. Would you like to try? Well, we'll talk about that later if it's interesting.

This small town has a very rich history. Even the Romans founded here an ancient city called Montefeltro (Mons Feretrius) in the III century AD on the site of the already present pagan temple of Jupiter Feretrio (Giove Feretrio). At the end of the third century, San Leo came to this region from Dalmatia with his friend Saint Marino to preach Christianity. By the way, the state of San Marino, founded by Saint Marino, is only 20 km from San Leo.

Over the centuries, the right to own the fortress city was disputed in the Middle Ages by the Byzantines, Goths, Franks, Lombards. From 961 to 963, the city was the capital of Italy, led by Berengario II. It belonged in the Renaissance to the Montefeltro family, then to Cesare Borgia, then again to Montefeltro, to the Medici families, to Della Rovere, and from 1631 to the Papal States. Until August 15, 2009, the city belonged to the Marche region of the provinces of Pesaro and Urbino and its history is naturally inextricably linked with this region.

But back to our tour. The first thing that will strike us from the outside is the sheer, vertical rocks perpendicular to the earth’s surface, made by nature itself during the Miocene period (23-5 million years ago). Descending from the mountains, the city is seen from the side as a huge polished ship with a stern raised to the top and with asymmetrical houses crowded on the deck. A divine phenomenon is the very fact of the appearance in the valley of the Marecchia River of a limestone-sand boulder transferred from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Adriatic side.

Inside you can get through the only road leading to the city. The sightseeing can begin with a visit to the local “Field of Wonders”. This is the name of the locals of the site where the Cathedral, the parish church, the bell tower and the fountain are located.

The current cathedral is high standing, not symmetrical, the central entrance of which is on the side, not from the facade, dating from 1173, preserved the remains of the previous YII, and that in turn Roman (columns, capitals, foundation) built on the site of a pagan temple in the III century. This place is very old. It houses the oldest busts of Saints Leo and Valentine (YI century), the sarcophagus of St. Leon, making it a pilgrimage site. One of the interesting details is the base of one of the Roman columns, made in the form of a large neck. Local women, who were famous for their fertility, sat on it, looked at the statue of the Madonna with the baby and prayed, after which they had children. Up to 50-60 years in families it was considered normal to have 10 or more children.

The parish church of the 11th century, built on the site of a church of the III-IY centuries, is the oldest evidence of Christianization in the historical region of Montefeltro.

The fountain is of great importance to the inhabitants of the city. The unusual murmur of the water creates the feeling that the fountain is talking and its whisper is carried by the wind throughout San Leo, penetrating even into the dwellings.

In ancient times, an ash tree grew on this place, and somehow in its shadow St. Francis of Assisi (San Francesco) came quite by chance to San Leo (May 8, 1213), making a pilgrimage, read his sermon so ardently and with such passion that his words struck all those present. He said that he expects a lot of good, because any torment for him pleasure. Among the guests was Count Orlando Cattani of Chiusi, and under the influence of his words, he gave the saint a lonely Mount Verna, located in Tuscany in the province of Arezzo, where the famous temple of Verna is now located and where thousands of people come annually to reproach themselves, repent, kill their flesh. There is no better place on earth for this purpose.

The tower, massive and impressive with some innate arrogance, frightens and distances from itself, but at the same time attracts. It's always windy in this place. Locals say that it is not just the wind, but the wind of St. Leon. They come here, on one of the tops of the cliff and from the height of the eagle’s flight admire the stunningly beautiful landscapes, the wind lifts their clothes and creates a sense of flight, soaring. Many cities in San Leo are called the nest of the eagle.

And as for the local species, they are depicted in the most famous paintings by Piero dela Francesca, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Bellini. There is such a thing as “hunters for landscapes”, art historians who are engaged in the fact that they find in the paintings of famous artists the true nature of the local places.

The fortress, built by the Romans, but later improved by the great engineer and architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini in 1441 (Francesco di Giorgio Martini) by order of the then very young Federico di Montefeltro, even during modern wars, flawlessly performed defensive functions.

There is a local saying that when you write San Leo, Cagliostro is read. It was in the fortress of San Leo in complete isolation that Giuseppe Balsamo (1743-1795) spent the last 4 years of 4 months and 5 days of his life (Giuseppe Balsamo) an intriguer, a magician, a skilled doctor, a master of the Masonic order in a cell-well without windows and a door, with only a hole in the ceiling. Legend has it that his soul still wanders through the rooms of the fortress in a desperate and futile search for justice because of such severe punishment. And the fact that his body after his death was mystically lost by drunken undertakers is combined with the mysterious aura that surrounded him during his lifetime. Until now, in the place of its last habitat, by some miracle, fresh flowers appear every day.