San Leo

The Fortress of San Leo is another of the world's great castles, located on the seam of Romagna and Marche near Rimini and San Marino.

A small town lies below San Leo.

The town has its share of views and old churches.

The land rises and falls dramatically where the Apennines reach the sea.

A particularly bizarre hill

The strategic location has been inhabited since at least Roman times, and fought over ever since. The castle changed hands between the Montefeltro and Malatesta families a few times in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Some more modern weaponry outside the fortress

The fortress was conquered by Cesare Borgia in 1502, but after the death of his father, Pope Alexander VI, the new pope conquered the fortress form him. The fortress passed in possession to the Della Rovere family (of Pope Julius II fame) until the Duchy of Urbino became a Papal State in the 1600s.

Looks like the Scaligeri sigil to me.

San Marino is the city-state far in the distance.

The castle houses quite an arsenal.

A painting of one of the many assault on the fortress.

As part of the Papal States, the fortress served as a prison until the 1900s. Famous inmates include Felice Orsini, the would be assassin of Napoleon III, and Count Alessandro Cagliostro, the most famous mystical huckster of his day.

Shame

You can't beat that view