Rimini is just over twenty kilometers away, but it really looks like another planet. Forget the Romagna of the beaches and crowds in the disco: clinging here between hills in the province of Forlì-Cesena, where the great Marco Pantani he loved pedaling before each race, there is a whole different atmosphere.
Longiano it is an ancient, placid village. Surrounded by trees and orchards – which in this period color the landscape with a beautiful foliage -, he's called balcony of Romagna because on the clearest days the horizon reaches the sea. It is a medieval village, made of cobblestones, steep streets and brick houses, and on its main street there are shops of typical and artisan products.
Rocca Malatesta
Its main attraction is Rocca Malatesta, a castle that belonged to one of the most important families of the Middle Ages, which dominated the territories of Rimini and Romagna from 1295 to 1500. "Cesena was" jealous "of the power of Rimini and for this cyclically destroyed the castle, which Rimini rebuilt more beautiful than before: that's why over the years it has become a jewel ”, says the local historian Giorgio Magnani. But in addition to its beautiful rooms, Rocca Malatesta is also worth a visit for the Tito Balestra Foundation, an interesting collection of modern and contemporary works of art, including some drawings by Goya, Matisse and Chagall, kept inside.
Villa Margherita
A few kilometers from the center, then, in the hamlet of Montilgallo, another place aspires to become the testimonial of these places still too little known: it is Villa Margherita, an ancient rural residence of 1500 surrounded by greenery, which on November 7 stops being a private residence and opens its gate to the public. Entirely renovated thanks to the interventions of archiculture of the young architects and designers of the Laprim Basta studio, Villa Margherita has been transformed into a relais with 6 super-technological but extremely welcoming bedrooms (including a suite with spa inside), a large infinity pool, an agricultural and botanical park with centenary trees and the restaurant the Elder which, directed by Giuseppe Ricchebuono, starred chef at the Vescovado di Noli, Liguria, promises to become a pole of attraction gourmet on the territory.
Under the motto of elegant, excellent, exclusive, but at the same time inclusive, refined but not luxurious, the Villa aims to draw a tourism certainly elite on the territory (the slow and sustainable one on which so much is aimed in the post Covid), but also to dialogue directly with it. And so its large agricultural park will host events managed by the Petrella theater in Longiano, exhibitions organized by the Tito Balestra Foundation, playful activities for the elderly and children.
Despite the period of uncertainty, the restaurant will also be operational immediately: it will regularly cover the lunch service, while dinner will be exclusively for the guests of the structure, guaranteeing distancing and compliance with anti-Covid regulations. After all, the same structure of the villa and the wide spaces guarantee a natural distance, in contact with nature.
"It is in times of crisis that we must invest", he recalls Luca Panzavolta, The CEO of Cia, a cooperative company headed by Conad and which with this project aims to combine enhancement of the territory with haute cuisine and rediscovery of local products. Just try one of the tasting menus to realize it: smoked trout from the Apennines, tortello di Mora Romagnola (native pig breed), cheek of Vacca Romagnola and an entire cellar of wines available (whose premises have remained intact as in 1500) .
An oasis of taste and elegance ideal for a romantic weekend, but also for ceremonies, special lunches and dinners, corporate events. Far and yet at the same time close to the sea and the coast. For a experience of Romagna that is not just a simple vacation, but a total immersion in the landscape, history, culture and flavor. And the raw material, as we have seen, is certainly not lacking.
