Awaiting to restart our lives, today we wanna take you on a stroll around SAN LEO, a small town in the hinterland of Romagna - which Umberto Eco described as "the most beautiful village in Italy" with two churches, a square, a fortress and a rocky spur at 600 meters above sea level.
The highlight of San Leo is the fortress.
Its History is connected to a name: Cagliostro.
Are you wondering who is Cagliostro?
Giuseppe Balsamo, aka count Alessandro Cagliostro was an alchemist, a hypnotist and a mind-reader. He was accused of heresy and was detained in two cells of the fortress.
After his abjuration, Cagliostro was shut in the so called “Treasure cell”, the darkest and most moisture with bad hygienic conditions. He was in a lot of pain there.
Lately, he was moved to the “Pozzetto cell”, i.e. the narrowest room of the building, in which the only breaches were a trapdoor, from which Cagliostro was climbed down, a small window with a triple iron grating looking at the parish church, and a spy- hole, from which he was kept under surveillance.
To lock him up in the fortress, it was the Church that had decided to grant the Count of Cagliostro grace while awaiting his redemption.
But, the fortress of San Leo hides even more macabre places inside.
We'll give you one of them all, the detention cell. A basement room, lightless and damp, where prisoners were tied to stone balls.
The worst came with rain, in fact, during thunderstorms, the room was filled with water and the prisoners were left to soak for days.a palle di pietre.
In the punishment cell, the attention is drawn to the cage, perhaps one of the worst instruments of torture. Convicts were imprisoned suspended in the air without food and water at the mercy of vultures.
besides the fortress: a lot of things to see and visit.
From the top of the fortress, going down into the city there are two churches, a tower and a Medici palace to see.
1. La Pieve is Parish Church of Santa Maria Assunta. It is the oldest building of worship in the city and Montefeltro. it is thought that the built goes back to the year 1000 – when it was universally believed that the end of the world was at hand.
2. Oan leo cathedral: it has statues of lions at the entrance. It is in the Lombard-Romanesque style. In the crypt there is a relic of the patron saint returned by the city of Voghiera, where legend says that the horses carrying Leo's corpse soared and did not want to continue on the path to Germany wanted by Emperor Henry IV. The relic is placed on the lid of his stone sarcophagus.
3. the bell tower is located behind the Cathedral, on the top of Mount della Guardia. Together with other buildings it was part of the so-called bishop's citadel, the ancient residence of the bishop of Montefeltro, whose first is said to have been St. Leo himself.
4. The 16th century palazzo medici which currently houses - in addition to the tourist office - the Museum of Sacred Art. Interesting are the “paliotti”, i.e. plaster-based slabs, colours and poor materials that covered the supports of the altars. Their peculiarity is that they look like marble slabs even though they are made of plaster.
curiosity. events to live in sa leo: alchimialchimie
AlchimiAlchimie is a festival dedicated to magic, esotericism, science and spirituality.
Every year it takes place at the end of August, throughout the old town decorated with the stalls of the magic alchemical market and food stands, and made alive by conferences, concerts and many shows full of charm. Long awaited is the show made of music and fireworks that every year is accompanied by new music to make the fire dance with original shapes and movements every time.
Do you know any place more magical than San Leo?