San Leo

San Leo occupies a block of rock with sheer sides and one approach road, which made it effectively impregnable; Dante mentions the difficulty of getting up it in Purgatorio, and Machiavelli studied its defences. The fortress was rebuilt in the fifteenth century by Francesco di Giorgio Martini for the Montefeltro, then used as a papal prison. Giuseppe Balsamo, who called himself Count Cagliostro, was sentenced for freemasonry and held here from 1791 in a cell with a window facing the church but no door at floor level; he was lowered in through the ceiling and died there in 1795. The village below has two Romanesque churches.

What to look for

• The cliff fortress - a rebuilt Renaissance fort on a sheer rock.
• Cagliostro's cell - a doorless room entered through the ceiling.
• The Romanesque churches - a ninth-century pieve and a twelfth-century cathedral.
• The single approach - one cut road up to the rock's only entrance.

When to go

April to October; the fortress closes some weekdays in winter. Summer weekends bring crowds from the coast. The approach road is narrow with limited parking.

What to expect

The climb through the village to the fortress is steep. Parking is very limited on busy days. The cell is small and quickly seen.

Nearby

San Marino lies north-east; Rimini is on the coast.