A Weekend on the Adriatic Riviera

A few potholes pull me out of my lethargy as I drive toward the Adriatic Riviera along strada statale 9, the ancient Via Emilia. My destination is Rimini, a city in Emilia-Romagna located on the Adriatic Sea. Orchards line the side of the road while Lana Del Rey sings in the background. I look up from Google Maps and focus on the large writing in the traffic circle: Romagna mia (my Romagna). The proud welcoming quote coincides with Raul Casadei's 1954 hit song that is still a legend here, the land of balere (dance halls) and disco clubs. Mass tourism has dissolved to leave room for unexpected treasures and even a touch of melancholy.

"A mess, confused, fearful, tender, with this great breath, this emptiness open to the sea." I think of how Rimini was portrayed by one of its most epic citizens, Federico Fellini, who was born here on January 20, 1920. Today the city pulsates. The municipal administration, led by the mayor Andrea Gnassi, and a major investment are revolutionizing it. In fact, the Parco del Mare has been redeveloped, its ten-mile seafront set to be Europe's largest wellness-dedicated pedestrian zone. In addition to exercising stations, children's areas, and bike paths. a new contemporary art museum opened in the 14th-century Arengo and Podestà palaces.

It all started on January 20, 2018, with the restoration of the Fulgor cinema in Palazzo Valloni, near the ancient fish market, where Fellini saw his first film Maciste all'Inferno (1925).  Set designer and Oscar winner Dante Ferretti redid the interiors in "Hollywood-Romagnolo" style. In 2020 Rimini celebrated the centenary of the director's birth. He filmed Amarcord (1973), his autobiographical masterpiece, entirely in Rome's Cinecittà, a choice that subjected him to the antipathy of the Rimanesi. The "reconciliation" plan included opening a museum dedicated to the director and an open-air thematic itinerary with CircAmarcord-Piazza d'Arti, a new urban space with visionary installations. The historic center is a treasure trove of Roman, medieval, and Renaissance archaeological masterpieces to explore on foot or by bicycle. Past the Malatesta Temple, with its unfinished and perfect façade by Leon Battista Alberti, across the monumental Tiberius Bridge.

Pasticceria Vecchi has been a breakfast institution since 1850.  Owner Michela, known as Michelina, is famous for her custard-filled bomboloni and the piada dei morti, a dessert prepared from the first Sunday in October to the first in December. I also taste the light wood-baked meringue filled with whipped cream that is served with hot chocolate in winter. "I've been doing this job for over 50 years," she explains behind a counter full of tarts made "without yeast, for goodness sake," and sweet ravioli filled with vignole, sour cherries.

Less than a few hundred feet away stands the picturesque (and wonderfully enjoyable) Borgo San Giuliano, a story in the history of Rimini. The former working-class fishermen's village on the northern bank of the Marecchia River is a veritable gem of the Adriatic Riviera. It was set to be demolished at the end of the 1970s for a residential neighborhood. Residents saved it in the form of a farewell dinner party, which subsequently sparked the desire to save the beautiful pastel houses decorated with Fellini-themed murals. 

I take a seat at one of Nud e Crud's colorful tables for a piada with sardines and a delightful plate of tagliatelle al ragù. The restaurant is part of a group of five trattorias conceived and run by chef Giuliano Canzian with Sergio Gnassi, the mayor's brother. The concept is that of the "real kilometer." In other words: local excellence, not just local, and a lot of contamination. 

The list includes the "pid-burger" (piadina with a hamburger patty) and "pid-fish," a reference to Anglo-Saxon fish and chips, and fresh pasta. The team employs about a hundred sfogline (pasta makers), many of whom are young and don't have Italian origins –  they learn the secrets from the azdore, the housewives of Romagna. "We try to renew ourselves with a bit of entrepreneurial creativity" and to the purists who turn up their noses they reply that "tradition rhymes with innovation." 

The piada road tour continues. Half an hour later, I'm biting into a classic one at Dalla Lella: prosciutto crudo, squacquerone cheese, and rocket lettuce. I can smell the scent of dough made from flour, lard, water, and salt from 300 feet away. Serving it to me are Lella, spring a straw hat with flowers, and her daughter Marina, two local institutions, along with their three stores. They also serve cassoni (calzones made of piadina), including one made from wild herbs and one called il rosso with tomato and mozzarella. 

Among the alleys of the historic center is Abocar Due Cucine, a Michelin-starred, but democratic restaurant where due (two) means the cuisine of Camilla Corbelli from Romagna and that of Mariano Guardianelli, who has an Argentinean-Italian origin, a couple in the kitchen and life.  Il Lurido, Camilla's parents' historic trattoria, once stood in this spot. She toured the world and worked at some notable restaurants including  Celler de Can Roca in Girona and Mauro Uliassi's restaurant in Le Marche – both of which hold three Michelin stars. 

The philosophy, however, is inspired by the bistronomy of Paris – affordable tasting menus, informal setting, high-level raw materials, and technique. In both the dining room and the internal garden, Camilla offers unusual herbal teas, served at the end of the meal as an alternative to coffee. "After trial and error, my South American streak prevailed. I approached the sea, for example, by using local fish," explains Mariano. Dishes include pink shrimp with spinach and puffed amaranth and cappelletti with mantis shrimp meatballs and lemongrass. 

On the seafront, apparently as simple as a fisherman's hut, is Rimini's historic and longtime starred restaurant: Guido 1946, the eponymous owner's birth year. It used to be a kiosk that offered baked pizzas, spaghetti with clams, and fritters. "It was a wooden shack without water or electricity built by my father Guido, with a tent sewn by my mother and me. When it was windy, it went boom-boom," recalls Tiziana, mother of chef Gianpaolo and sommelier Gianluca. 

Today, the first wooden sign painted by her husband Flaviano Raschi is nearly a piece of contemporary art. On the walls are sketches of the chef's dishes and the stylized silhouette of the skyscrapers on the waterfront. The classic dishes are still there, and the "Sepia and Squacquerone" is with the trip alone, a land-sea missile that melts in your mouth. Connoisseurs will enjoy the oyster tasting, with a surprise. The Fine de Bretagne oyster is included along with the Pearl of the Delta, the oyster of the Po River, that's bred in the Sacca di Scardovari, a large UNESCO-protected lagoon of the Delta.

A little further on, monumental in grandeur and luxury, the Grand Hotel of Rimini is an iconic and surreal stop. Regular guests at the Dolce Vita restaurant include musician Vasco Rossi and his band, but everyone has passed through here, including Sharon Stone, who asked for spaghetti aglio, olio e pepperoncini (garlic, olive oil, and chili pepper) instead of lobster. The splendor is still that of 1908, renovated, and in the summer, dinner on the terrace is accompanied by a twelve-piece orchestra. It's no coincidence that the hotel was Fellini's forbidden dream as it inspired cult scenes from Amarcord as well as the character Gradisca. The feeling of exclusivity remains the same.

A final touch of class with the designer bomboloni with icing sugar by Roberto Rinaldini, known locally as the "stylist of dessert," two stores in Rimini, two in Milan and Rome, as well as corner shops in the Rinascente department stores in Milan and Rome.

Photography Giacomo Bretzel