San Leo fortress

The fortress of San Leo sits on a rocky spur above the Valmarecchia; the Romans were the first to fortify the summit, and Byzantines, Goths, Franks and Lombards later fought over it. Federico da Montefeltro took it in 1441 and had Francesco di Giorgio Martini rebuild it for firearms, with crossfire and artillery. Cesare Borgia captured it in 1502, from 1527 it belonged to the Della Rovere, and in 1631 it passed with the Duchy of Urbino to the Papal States and served as a prison until 1906. Here the adventurer Giuseppe Balsamo, known as Cagliostro, died in 1795 in a cell reached only through a hatch in the ceiling.

The museum displays weapons and instruments of torture, as well as art exhibitions. From the ramparts the view stretches over the Valmarecchia. In the village, the cathedral of San Leone with its crypt, the Pieve of Santa Maria Assunta and the 12th-century Torre Civica are worth a look.

For campers: the parking lot is about 200 m from the fortress, the bus parking lot about 500 m. The road into the village is narrow and steep, so ask the municipality beforehand about the rules for motorhomes.