Torriana - Italy

Torriana (RN)

Emilia Romagna (Italy)

On some reefs of rock typical of Valmarecchia, in times of invasion and hostility is an excellent natural defense, stand profiles Torriana and Montebello. Cha impregnable strongholds have seen the glory of Malatesta and bitter battles with the castles and troops of Montefeltro, the historical region that includes the neighboring middle and upper part of the valley.
Two villages that for centuries have had different fates: Torriana was amended and became the capital city, the village of Montebello and instead remained virtually intact and his silence, which lasted centuries, today is your luck, having been preserved as a true island history and culture.
So much history but not only there are also mysterious legends and there is a particularly rich natural environment, so important to be protected in a wildlife oasis and see the activities of a center for study and research.
Torriana is called so only since 1938, first had a name certainly less sweet but that alone was enough to describe the roughness of a place all perched on the bare rock. His name was "Skinned" and so we find him in the chronicles as early as 1141. The calcareous rock must have seemed more barren than it is today and its fortress more confused with the stone itself.
A rock is certainly important to guard a street that goes up Valmarecchia, the ancient Via Maior, much strategic value because it represented the main link with the Montefeltro and Tuscany.
Some claim that the underground fortress of Torriana was killed Gianciotto Malatesta made himself notorious for putting a tragic end to the encounter between his wife Frances and his brother Paul. I Malatesta castle that dominated the later also passed through the hands of other large families as the Borgias and the Medicis. Remains some significant traces of the fortifications now immersed in a recent construction.
E 'instead of an open book of history the village of Montebello and in particular its beautiful and interesting rock. Should be recognized the military qualities of the place already from remote times although its name derives from Mons Belli, Mount of the war. All the village, which is accessed by one road controlled by a fortified gate, is of medieval. Certainly today, as before, is one of the places of excellence Malatesta.