Castel Sismondo

The Malatesta fortress at the heart of Rimini, now the home of the Fellini Museum

Malatesta Fortress • Begun 1437 • The Fellini Museum

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🧭 Why Visit

Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta began this brick fortress in 1437 as a stronghold and a statement, and it still dominates the edge of the old town. Today it holds part of the Fellini Museum, and the square around it has been remade as the Piazza dei Sogni, a shallow sheet of water that doubles the castle at dusk.

🏛️ A Little History

Malatesta took such pride in the design that he called in Filippo Brunelleschi to advise, and put his own name on the walls. The outer rings were lost over the centuries, but the great keep survived, and in 2021 the piazza around it was reborn as the open-air heart of the museum dedicated to Rimini's most famous son.

BRICK, DITCH AND CORBEL

The Walls from Outside

What survives is the keep. The outer rings came down in the 1820s and the ditch was filled, so the fortress you walk around is the core of something once much larger.

The long brick curtain wall of Castel Sismondo running away from the gate tower, seen from the dry ditch
The long curtain wall
Two towers of Castel Sismondo, one with blind arches under its parapet, pigeons along the roofline
Towers and corbels
The gate tower of Castel Sismondo, its pointed stone arch under a marble emblem set in a cross
The pointed arch
A caper plant in flower growing out of the brickwork of Castel Sismondo, a slit window above
A caper in the wall
The marble Malatesta emblem over the entrance of Castel Sismondo, a crested helm above a shield
The Malatesta emblem
HE HAD IT CALLED AFTER HIMSELF

His Own Name, Cut Into the Wall

Two slabs on the walls carry the same six lines of Latin. Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta raised this mass from its foundations, an ornament to the people of Rimini, and decided the castle should be called Sismondo after his own name. The year given is 1446.

Sigismondo Malatesta's inscription at Castel Sismondo, recording that he had the castle called by his name
The slab on the wall
A second slab of the same inscription at Castel Sismondo, cut in white marble inside a twisted rope moulding
The same text, readable
A studded wooden door under a brick arch in the pale brick face of the keep at Castel Sismondo
The studded door
THROUGH THE POINTED ARCH

Inside the Walls

Past the gate there is a lawn, an ivy court and a vaulted hall lit through the embrasures. The Fellini Museum occupies three floors above.

The grass courtyard inside Castel Sismondo, enclosed by the brick range and the curtain wall
The lawn inside
A court at Castel Sismondo with ivy to the roofline and a brick arch opening through to the lawn
The ivy court
A tall vaulted brick hall inside Castel Sismondo, lit through two deep window embrasures
Light through the embrasures
BARRACKS, PRISON, MUSEUM

What Was Lost, and What It Became

A model in the museum shows the rings that are gone. The castle held prisoners from 1857 until 1967, and a bomb on 28 December 1943 opened the walls.

A scale model of Castel Sismondo showing the ring of outer walls and towers that no longer stand
The castle with its rings
A heavy wooden cell door with an observation hatch in a vaulted room at Castel Sismondo
The door with the hatch
A window in a thick wall at Castel Sismondo closed by a heavy iron grille
Through the bars

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Castel Sismondo?
A fortress-residence begun in 1437 by Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, the lord of Rimini. It now houses part of the Fellini Museum and stands in the redesigned Piazza Malatesta.
Can you visit it?
Yes. The castle is one of the sites of the Fellini Museum and keeps the municipal museums' hours; the surrounding Piazza dei Sogni, with its reflecting pool, is open day and night.

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