By Lyn Funnell

Rimini, on Italy’s Adriatic coast, is a calming cultural cocktail. It has 15km of clean sandy beaches for sun-worshippers, (40,000 sun umbrellas!) a wonderful varied night-life, and plenty of history to explore.
You can shop till you drop, or just gaze at the imaginative window displays and watch the fashionably-dressed locals passing by.

The city was named by the Romans. Cross over the Tiberius Bridge and enter through the Arch of Augustus, which was also known as the Golden Gate as it was originally covered in gold. It was left open to show that they’d conquered their enemies.

Mussolini had one of his drastic building clearances around the area, so it’s clearly visible as you approach it. Rimini’s cathedral, which was originally named the Malatesta Temple, was started in 1450, but never finished. Prince Sigismondo fell out with Pope Pius II, was excommunicated, and then went broke. Work stopped in 1461 and has never started again. Finished or not, it’s the ugliest cathedral that I’ve ever seen!

In 1989, Rimini’s ‘Pompeii’ was discovered. The mosaic floors were almost perfectly preserved by a fire. They are absolutely wonderful. It’s hard to grasp how old they are as they look so good.
In places you can see graves in the floors with the skeletons still in them. 30 have been found so far. They were buried in Medieval times. It’s impossible to believe that the grave-diggers weren’t aware that they were digging through something unique. One of the first recorded ‘Jobsworths’? ‘Hey Francisco, there’s something strange under the soil here.’ ‘Shut up and keep digging. Don’t make extra work. It’s none of our business.’
The villas were originally on the seafront, but the sea is over a km away now.

You see the villas viewed from above, and through glass pathways. It makes you walk funny at first until you get used to it! A lot more is still buried. As the town is built on top of it, the rest of the site will probably never be unearthed. But practically any excavations in and around Rimini expose Roman remains.

In one villa, The Surgeon’s House, more than 150 surgical instruments were discovered, plus other medical aids. They’re all in the nearby museum. I loved the foot-shaped hot-water bottle. The patient slipped their foot into it to cure various ailments.

There’s a re-creation of how the surgeon’s house would have looked. Amazingly modern!

We spent our first night in the Belvedere, a converted farmhouse run by Francesca and Mauro, where we had a cookery lesson. It was the first time I’d ever made pasta.Paulo the chef and I had ‘words’ over the best Bolognese sauce! I’ve since adapted my recipe – but not completely.

Dinner was six courses, plus wine from Mauro’s father’s vineyard. Every ingredient was fresh, organic and local. They even bake their own bread. As I’m allergic to chemicals, E numbers, MSG etc, in food, it was a treat for me to be able to eat everything.

A few miles away from Rimini are mountain-top villages. I went to Mondaino. It was under the sea millions of years ago, as fossils in the museum prove. Leonardo Da Vinci stayed there to study them, especially the tiny birds’ wings.

Visit the Fossa Cheese Mill. The sheep’s cheese is buried in pits and covered with straw for three months. I loved it drizzled with honey and balsamic vinegar. Down the road, Giovanni Renzi’s olive groves have been in the family since 1896. You can adopt a tree and have the virgin oil shipped to you. That evening, we went to Trattoria La Mariana in the old fisherman’s village near the Tiberius Bridge, and dined on a gorgeous selection of freshly-caught local fish; fried, grilled, and in salads.

The next morning we toured San Patrignano, one of the most heart-warming places I’ve ever seen. It’s a village run by recovering drug addicts. They all work hard, making everything from bread to top-class furniture. The views across the vineyards to the mountain villages or the sea are unforgettable.

Visit the shop and restaurant (O’malomm, meaning Bad Man. Actually, it’s more like Naughty Boy!) for gifts and a simple but high-quality meal. There are more than 1500 residents, saving the State nearly 30 million euros and hundreds of prison years. Addicts from all over the world are welcome. It’s free. The only stipulation is a desire to turn their life around.

Back in Rimini, I was surprised to discover how reasonable the price is for a night in the Grand Hotel. Go on, spoil yourself! Federico Fellini, the famous film director, (La Dolce Vita, etc) stayed there. Try a Fellini cocktail, served with a tableful of irresistible nibblies!

We had our last meal in Nude Crud, which made us giggle. It loosely translates as Naked and Raw, or Plain Speaking. Everything is simple good food, based around the local bread, piadina, which reminded me of tortillas. We dined on platters of cured meat, cheeses and tomatoes. We didn’t need anything else. Local natural flavours are hard to beat. It was time to leave Rimini.

At the airport, checking in was quick and friendly. I was glad that we were booked in to the Radisson Blu at Stansted as we were exhausted. The hotel has an amazing Wine Tower, 13m tall, containing 4000 wine bottles.
Wine Angels fly up to retrieve ordered bottles. Worth seeing.

The rooms were perfect and the staff friendly, but the breakfast was disappointing. Too much food put out at once. The bacon was rock-hard and a Ninja Warrior could have killed with the fried eggs! Shame. Especially after Rimini’s lovingly-prepared meals.

How to get there
The region is served by three international airports:
Rimini – Ryanair from London Stansted and Liverpool
Bologna – BA and Easyjet from London Gatwick;  Ryanair from Stansted, Gatwick and Edinburgh
Parma – Ryanair from London Stansted


For more information on the region, visit Riviera.Rimini.it or Riminturismo.it
 
First night:
Belvedere Locanda & Ristorante (Belvederesaludecio.it)
Rooms from EURO 75 per night for a double room (2 people) and breakfast.
The restaurant is open every night for dinner for residents and non-residents.
 
The Grand Hotel (Grandhotelrimini.com‎)
Rooms from 160 Euros per night for a double room (2 people) and breakfast.
 
San Patrignano (Sanpatrignano.org)
Trip hosted and organized by: APT SERVIZI/Emilia Romagna Region Tourist Board.
Ref: Barbara Candolfini (mob 39 335 5282325).

OLEIFICIO RENZI GIOVANNI (Oliorenzigiovanni.com)
località S.Pietro Via Giovanni XXIII n. 16
Montegridolfo (RN)
PH. (39) 0541.855005
Trattoria La Marianna (Osteriadeborg.it)
Viale Tiberio, 19 – 47921 Rimini (Rn)
Tel. +39 0541/22530 (Rif. Enrica Mancini_mob 335 7696611)

O’MALOMM (Translate.googleusercontent.com)
http://spaccio.sanpatrignano.org

Tel. 0541 362488 (rif. Oscar Piastra)

NUDE & CRUD,
Via Tiberio, 27/29 – 47921
Rimini (Rn)
Tel. +39 0541/29009,
E-mail: Nudecrud.it

We met in the Airport Lounge.
No1traveller.com
Radissonblu.co.uk/hotel-stanstedairport