San Leo - Forte di San Leo

San Leo, a small town about 35 kilometers southwest of Rimini, borders the small state of San Marino, as does Verucchio (prev. upload).

The town was under the rule of the Lombards since 568. The first bishop mentioned was called Agathus and in 826 he took part in a bishops' meeting in Rome. The Lombard Duke Orso resided here since 885. In the dispute between the German king Otto I and his rival Berengar II who held court here between 962 and 963, the latter was besieged by Otto I and forced to surrender. He was then taken prisoner to Bamberg, where he died.

In 1155 Montefeltrano I the first member of the noble family of Montefeltro, is mentioned in San Leo. In 1226, Emperor Frederick II granted two of his descendants the County of Urbino, which included the town and its surroundings. After battles between the Montefeltro and the Malatesta of Rimini, from 1441 the town belonged again to the original lords.

The fortress above San Leo is visible from afar. In the late 15th century, the architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini, following the will of the Duke of Urbino, Federico of Montefeltro, undertook the extension and so creating a practically impregnable fortress.

Since the 18th century, the fortress of San Leo served as a dungeon for the Vatican. Between 1791 and 1795, the most famous prisoner was Giuseppe Balsamo, better known by the name Count Alessandro Cagliostro, who spent four years of torturous imprisonment here after being condemned to death for heresy by the Holy Inquisition and having his sentence commuted to life imprisonment by Pope Pius VI. He died in 1795 in a dungeon of the fortress.