Top of the World
If you travel inland from Cattolica, following the course of the river Conca, you will see an imposing square fortress surrounded by imposing walls emerging on a high hill. It is the town of Montefiore Conca, a small village of just over 2,000 inhabitants in the heart of one of the most delightful valleys in the whole of Emilia Romagna.Montefiore Castle fully represents in the collective imagination the idea one has when referring to the Middle Ages: a mighty fortress with its towers; a fortified village; a noble family of condottieri; stories of knights, ladies, hunting parties, the power of the Church and in the background the shadow of war. Although it was first mentioned as Castrum Montis Floris in a document in the twelfth century, it was from the fourteenth century and later in the fifteenth that the village rose to splendour thanks to the powerful Guelph Malatesta family, vicars of the Pope in this part of Romagna and Le Marche. A precise date marks the history of Montefiore: 1322 AD. In that year the Malatestas received from the Municipality of Rimini and the Pope full rights of control over the small village which, from that moment onwards, became for private and exclusive use of the family. In that particular condition, the Malatestas began to embellish and reinforce the castle, which became a sort of secondary palace, a place for holidays, hunting expeditions, and the residence of illustrious personages such as Popes and Emperors. In about 140 years, until the defeat of Sigismondo Pandolfo dei Malatesta (1462), Montefiore was enriched with palaces, churches and monasteries, the remains of which can still be seen today.
