The canal port, around which extends the historic centre of Cesenatico, is considered by far the main monument of the city. Along the harbour there are prominent landmarks and monuments: piazza Pisacane with the monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi, the fish market of the early twentieth century, the charming piazza delle Conserve, the remains of the original docks on stilts. The quays of the port are the real “piazza” of the city and, still today, the scene of much of the town’s social life.
Our first stop in Cesenatico will begin with a visit to the Maritime Museum: a unique Museum in Italy and one of the very few in the world. The ground section of the Maritime Museum offers a broad and fascinating journey dedicated to traditional seamanship of upper and middle Adriatic. Around the trabaccolo (Adriatic sea sailing coaster) and the bragozzo (typical fishing boat) in the center of the Pavilion, there is a guided tour between exhibits, period films, educational installations and 3D animations that illustrate the structure and construction of traditional boats and their propulsion systems and management. In the Floating Section of the Museum, unique in its kind, there are docked ten traditional boats with their colourful sails, “vele al terzo”, marked with the symbols of the families of fishermen.
Continuing along the Canal to our left we find the house museum “Marino Moretti.” The Moretti House is the home of writer and poet Marino Moretti, bequeathed to the city of Cesenatico to be preserved, along with the original furnishings, its library and the archive with the manuscripts and letters. Moretti’s House has thus become a House-Museum where the visitor retraces a journey in 20th century literature in the company of one of its illustrious protagonists.
A short walk from Porto Leonardesco is the Piazza delle Conserve, so called because of the ancient preserves, upside down cone-shaped buildings, these were used at one time as “freezers” for preserving fish and other foodstuffs chilled by ice or compressed snow.
Continuing along Corso Garibaldi (the old quay of the canal port ) we arrive at Piazza Ciceruacchio where bricks of different colours draw the perimeter of the old Pretoria tower built in the late 16th century to defend the port, it was destroyed by a British naval attack in 1809.
At the end of our route (towards the sea) we will find the skyscraper. Built in 1958, the 33-story building was for a long time the tallest skyscraper in Europe at 115 meters high. If you decide to go towards the beach you come to the large park: parco di Levante (East park)
POINT OF INTEREST:
During the Christmas period a wonderful floating Nativity consisting of life-size statues is erected on the boats in the canal making Cesenatico even more spectacular and unique!!
INFORMATION ABOUT THE GUIDED TOUR
Meeting point: the Maritime Museum
Arrival point: parco di Levante.
Entrance fee: 1 euro (not included in the guided tour)
Italia
Italia