User:IgnatiusofLondon/History of Rimini

= History of Rimini =

Roman Ariminum
In 295 BC, the Roman Republic won a decisive victory at the Battle of Sentinum against a coalition of Umbris, Senones, Samnites, and Etruscans. To consolidate their victory, the colonia of Ariminum (Rimini) was founded in southern Romagna in 268 BC, alongside the construction of the Via Flaminia, running from Rome to Ariminum.

Procopius writes that two women in a villa near Rimini ate seventeen men as they entered their house, and were then killed by the eighteen man.

House of Malatesta
In April 1347, Malatesta issued an edict prohibiting the import of earthenware and pottery.

16th century
From 1540 until 1797, with a brief restoration in 1815, Rimini was part of the Papal States' Legation of Romagna, headquartered in Ravenna.

Napoleonic Italy
In 1797, the Cisalpine Republic incorporated Rimini into the Rubicon Department, headquartered in Forlì.

By the end of January 1814, Murat's troops had arrived in Rimini, part of the historical region of Romagna, which partained to the Kingdom of Italy. Murat had observed that General Michele Carrascosa, military governor of Naples, had hosted several talks with Austrian officers in Rimini, facilitated by Marquis Alessandro Belmonti Cima, captain of Rimini's port.

On 21 January 1814, 3,000 Neapolitan soldiers lined up for battle in Rimini's central square. French soldiers and their Italian conscripts were allowed to return home. A prefect was appointed to administer Rimini. On 31 January 1814, General d'Ambrosio promulgated a decree from Rimini announcing the armistice between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Naples. Murat passed through Rimini on the morning of 1 February 1814.

19th century
With the return of the Papal States in 1816, Rimini came under the Legation of Forlì.

On 1 and 2 June 1857, Pope Pius XI visited Rimini. A statue, designed by Modenese architect Luigi Poletti, depicting him in the act of blessing was unveiled in a city square.

The New Municipal Theatre, also designed by Poletti, was inaugurated later that summer. It had been constructed between 1843 and 1857. On 16 August 1857, the theatre hosted the world premiere of Giuseppe Verdi's Aroldo. It was a major event in the city, which attracted many foreign visitors, with Verdi's portrait hanging in shop windows and on walls.

Kingdom of Italy
On 27 December 1859, with Romagna's annexation into the Kingdom of Italy, Rimini became part of the Province of Forlì.

In 1869, Carlo Matteucci established a marine hospital for the treatment of scrofula south of the Ausa. Because the bathing establishment enforced gender segregation, trespassing across the Ausa became popular among bathers.

In 1892, a wooden bridge was installed across the mouth of the Ausa; it was replaced by a stone bridge in 1912 and refurbished in 1932.

1916 earthquake
The earthquake damaged many buildings in the city, including the Victor Emmanuel II Theatre, which did not reopen until 1923.

Post-World War II years
In July 1921, with a loan of 1.2 million lire from the Cassa di Risparmio, a horse-drawn tram service between Rimini's Piazza Cavour to the present-day Parco Federico Fellini was electrified and extended southwards to the present-day Piazza Marvelli. The service had originated as a horse-drawn omnibus service in 1844, which was replaced by a horse-drawn tram in 1877. It would extend to Miramare in 1925, and to Riccione on 26 June 1927.

On 6 April 1921, Rimini's socialist municipal administration endorsed Riccione's request for independence. The border between the comuni was established at the Rio dell'Asse; Rimini had unsuccessfully proposed that the border be further south at the Torrente Marano, to the disapproval of residents residing between the Rio dell'Asse and the Torrente Marano, including in the historic San Lorenzo in Strada. In return for being granted its desired border at the Rio dell'Asse, Minister Aldo Oviglio required Riccione to build a bridge over the Torrente Marano, to allow the completion of the coastal road between Rimini and Riccione. With the border agreed, the Royal Decree 1439 was passed on 19 October 1922 to make Riccione a separate comune.

Fascist Italy
On 13 June 1932, the Rimini–San Marino railway entered operation, with a new railway station,, on Via Pascoli.

On 22 November 1934, a small port on the Ausa was inaugurated with the formation of Rimini's Nautical Club. The port remained until after the Second World War.

On 1 July 1939, the Rimini–Riccione tramway reopened as a trolleybus line, inaugurating the present-day route 11. In Rimni's city centre, the route was shortened to Piazza Giulo Cesare.

Second World War
On 26 and 27 November 1943, Allied aerial bombardment damaged the railway line in Rimini. Two bombs that struck the depot did not detonate. From then, the Rimini–San Marino railway was shortened to a flagman's booth by the Via Flaminia, which was reclassified as a stop. On 28 December 1943, 105 B-17 and 21 B-24 bomber planes, supported by P-38 fighter planes, had been ordered to hit the railway station. The bombing partially destroyed the Victor Emmanuel II Theatre.

On 26 June 1944, service was suspended on the Rimini–Riccione trolleybus line.

The last service on the Rimini–San Marino railway took place on 4 July 1944; the line was suspended after the war, and its section in Rimini completely dismantled between 1958 and 1960.

Late 20th century
Between July and August 1946, the Rimini–Riccione trolleybus line resumed service.

Between 1959 and 1969, a helicopter service flew between Rimini's port and a heliport next to Borgo Maggiore's cablecar terminus in San Marino. Operated by Compagnia Italiana Elicotteri, the service ran several times per day, using a fleet of four-seater Bell 47J Rangers and a three-seater Agusta-Bell AB-47G,   which were serviced at Rimini's airport. In 1964, the line was extended to San Leo. Tickets would cost up to 12,500 lire, including the cablecar to the City of San Marino and a shuttle to the Leonine fortress. The service would take fifteen minutes to reach Borgo Maggiore and twenty-five minutes to reach San Leo.

On 13 August 1966, Rimini's two exits on the A14 Adriatic motorway opened as part of the Cesena–Rimini section.

In its post-war history, Rimini has largely voted for left-wing parties. In the 1975 regional elections, the Italian Communist Party won 49.9% of votes in Rimini, its best-ever electoral result.

From the 1960s, the Ausa was diverted to flow parallel to the state road along cemented banks, and empty into the Marecchia. The diversion was complete in 1972, with the Ausa's former route reduced to a sewage outlet, and redeveloped into a series of public parks.

On 9 September 1972, the Museum of Primitive Arts (Museo delle Arti Primitivi) was inaugurated in the. It would later move to the Villa Alvarado, on the Covignano hill.

Betwen May 1977 and February 1979, the occupation of forty-two apartments by homeless people in Via Acquario was a major social and political isue in the city.

In 1986, motorbuses were prohibited on Piazza Tre Martiri, leaving only the route 11 trolleybus serving Rimini's central square. Following the piazza's pedestrianisation, from 2 November 1998, the route was shortened to Piazzale San Girolamo.

On 16 April 1992, for the first time in its modern history, Rimini became a provincial capital with the formation of the Province of Rimini.

21st century
On 28 October 2018, following series of renovations, the Amintore Galli Theatre reopened for the first time since its bombardment during the Second World War.

On 23 November 2019, Metromare, a trolleybus rapid transit line between the railway stations of Rimini and Riccione, was inaugurated. Due to a delay in the delivery of the nine VanHool Exquicity 18T trolleybuses purchased to run on the line, operations used motorbuses until October 2021. The line had been constructed between July 2012 and late 2017, adjacent to the Bologna–Ancona railway.