Near the entrance to Guaita Tower is this quaint little chapel.
The interior may be small but it is a cozy & neat little church.
A misty morning beckoned & Guaita Tower is shrouded in a coat of white with the flag of the Republic of San Marino flying high.
Guaita Tower is the first & the oldest of the 3 towers constructed on Monte Titano, which overlooks the city of San Marino.
Guaita was built in the 11th century & some parts of the tower served as a prison until October 1970. It is one of the 3 towers depicted in both the National flag & Coat of arms of the tiny Republic of San Marino.
Climbing up Guaita is fairly easy, only the last section is a bit challenging with narrower & steeper steps before you get to an open landing.
This triangular tower has many windows & interestingly the misty passing clouds creep in creating a cold & mysterious atmosphere. Trying not to get spooked here as there was no one else around in the tower.The panoramic view from the top of Guaita Tower is beautiful & made more magical as the clouds gently float by.
Guaita Tower was rebuilt numerous times & retained this form in the 15th century during the war fought between San Marino & the House of Malatesta, an aristocratic Italian family that ruled over Rimini from 1295 to 1500 & other towns in the region of Romagna.
Along this corridor are little rooms that served as cells for incarcerated prisoners.Guaita Tower stands tall & proud sitting on a rocky limestone outcrop 739m above sea level. It needs no foundation as it is built directly on the rock with a pentagonal base. Monte Titano is the highest peak & part of the Apennines mountain range.
It is so surreal with the clouds drifting by, that it is akin to stepping into the world of Rapunzel & fairytales!
Violent earthquakes millions of years ago, caused a mass of rock situated about 80km from the mountain to lift & slide slowly towards the Adriatic Sea giving rise to Mount Titano. Various fossils found on the slopes of Mount Titano were mostly aquatic in origin confirming the fact that this area was once located underneath the sea.
You can see clearly from this vantage point the fortification walls & bastions with Guaita Tower just peeping, behind.
This is the view I have been looking forward to capture & here it is in full glory! You might wonder why it is significant… I fixed a jigsaw puzzle decades ago of Mount Titano & was totally fascinated by it, not knowing where in the world it was located. It was only recently when I started to research more about San Marino that I found out. So there you go!
San Marino is set in the Mediterranean zone & the trees here are mostly deciduous like chestnuts, oaks, laburnum, cypress, fir trees & some shrubs & asparagus.
This is the 2nd Tower known as De La Fratta or Cesta is located on the highest of Monte Titano’s summit.
This Museum was created in 1956 in honour of Saint Marinus, the founder of San Marino who is often depicted carrying the 3 towers in his arms.
Over 1,550 weapons dating from the Medieval era to the Modern day is showcased here in this 2nd tower.
“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let down your hair, So that I may climb thy golden stair”
This 2nd Tower was constructed during the 13th century on the remains of an older Roman fort & here we see the Bell Tower as well as the walkway around the fortification walls.
San Marino’s Historic Centre & Mount Titano were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008 & it encompasses an area of about 55ha with a buffer zone of 167ha where other structures like the fortification towers, walls, gates, bastions, as well as a neo-classical basilica located on it & the slopes forming a small but unique urban settlement.
Another spectacular view of Guaita from the Cesta, 2nd Tower
The million-dollar view of Guaita Tower, the town of Murata & the Adriatic Sea from atop of Cesta. Montale the 3rd Tower & smallest of the 3 on Mount Titano was constructed in the 14th century to give greater protection against the increasing power of the Malatesta family in that region. Used also as a prison, the only entrance to the Tower was a door 7m above ground level as was common for prison architecture of that time. This Tower is not open to the public so I had to be contented to just see it in the distance whilst driving pass.Each Tower has a flag & a metal vane shaped like an Ostrich plume fixed on it. It was deemed to be a pun on the Italian word “Penne” meaning plume which is attributed to the name of the mountains “Apennines”.
Let your imagination run & take you into the world of Rapunzel & her charming prince; into an exciting fairyland kingdom where bastions, fort walls, turrets & towers abound.
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