Borgo San Giuliano

Borgo San Giuliano is Rimini's historic quarter beyond the Tiberius Bridge, associated with fishermen, sailors and artisans. Its low coloured houses and murals give the older settlement a distinctive visual identity.

Why it matters

The borgo developed outside the main city walls and retained a strong local community identity. Campaigns against redevelopment and the creation of the Festa de' Borg in 1979 became important parts of its modern history of preservation.

What to notice

Murals on the house walls recall residents, maritime life and characters from Federico Fellini's films. Small lanes and squares maintain the intimate scale of the quarter. The church of San Giuliano provides a religious focus within this domestic and working landscape.

Context and history

The settlement grew around an early religious nucleus and expanded through fishing and river-related activity. Redevelopment in 1932 removed part of the older fabric. From the early 1980s murals became a means of expressing the borgo's history, with an increasing emphasis on Fellini's cinema after his death in 1993. The painted walls thus add modern memory to the historic housing rather than reproducing a purely medieval scene.