A picturesque town overlooking the Adriatic, Cesenatico is characterised by its canal port, built in the early 14th century by the Cesena town council and designed by Leonardo da Vinci, who made a planimetric survey and a perspective view of it. The history of the town has always been identified with the vicissitudes of its seaport which, due to the envy it aroused in its Malatesta rivals, was destroyed several times during the Middle Ages by enemy seigniories, but always rebuilt thanks to its importance for trade and commerce.
After a brief domination by the Serenissima Republic of Venice at the beginning of the 16th century, Cesenatico returned under the control of the Papal State and Cesena, from which it was freed in 1827.
From the eighteenth century onwards, the fishing activity developed considerably and, alongside the commercial one, it began to characterise the town's economy: between the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century, substantial immigration from Chioggia spread the boats and fishing techniques typical of the Veneto area in the town. And it was on a bragozzo, a typical Venetian boat, that the "hero of two worlds" Giuseppe Garibaldi sailed from Cesenatico in 1849. He was fleeing from Rome and heading for Venice to help the city in its struggle against the Austrians.
Marino Moretti was born in Cesenatico in 1885. The author of texts such as "Poesie scritte col lapis" (Poems written with pencils) and "La vedova Fioravanti" (The Widow Fioravanti), he created a poetic language focused on the most "humble" and everyday aspects of reality.
 
WHAT TO SEE

The canal port, with the Fish Market and the Fish Stores, conical wells once used as "freezers"; the Maritime Museum, in the Floating Section and in the Land Section; the Antiquarium, which collects evidence of city life from prehistoric times to the modern age; the House where Marino Moretti was born, which is now a museum of contemporary literature; the monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi; the Church of St. James, patron saint of the city and protector of travellers; the Church of St. Nicholas (of the Capuchin Fathers); the Church of St. John the Baptist. Nicola (of the Capuchin Fathers), originally from the 17th century.
In the seaside area, there is the 117-metre high skyscraper, built at the end of the 1950s, with 120 flats, and the Colonia Agip, built in the 1930s as an avant-garde centre for seaside holidays.