Montescudo - Italy

Montescudo (RN)

Emilia Romagna (Italy)

We are in the middle part of the Valconca, the ends of the Malatesta to the Republic of S. Marino and the Montefeltro. We are on a ridge that divides the plain from Rimini way that leads towards the Apennines, in the area dominated by Mount Carpegna.
Montescudo was therefore very strategic point for control of territory, and today it is strategically placed to know the inner parts of the master, perhaps the most hidden.
Here the landscape is still largely agriculture, with entire cultivated hills, a few houses scattered over the fields, villages that maintain ancient structures.
The craft traditions are still alive and gastronomy reserves the pleasant surprise of a very special product.
These are fertile lands, in a beautiful location, where two rivers flow - the Basin and Marano - then it is clear that there were very old settlements.
Some here were the Etruscans and Celts: some findings seem to bear witness to this presence, what is certain is that here was the Romans who settled in Montescudo, the time of Emperor Augustus, a post, the first part of the strategic road that led to Rome to Rimini.
A quote from Montescutulum is found in the Charter by Otto I to Carpegna, the most powerful and ancient lords of the mountains of Conca.
We are in 962, at the dawn of what will only later Middle Ages birth and assertion of power in these places Malatesta. I Malatesta attributed to the place a fundamental role in their defense system, as these places continues feud with the neighboring Montefeltro, who had lined the hills surrounding the towers and fortresses powerful, like Sassofeltrio few km from Montescudo.
Sigismondo Pandolfo wanted to build a strong fortress here in 1460 to shield the city of Rimini, as stated by a plaque on the southern bastion.
From this we found an extraordinary testimony: during the restoration of city walls was found a jar containing 22 medals representing the Temple and Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta of Rimini.