Tempio Malatestiano

The single greatest monument in Rimini and one of the most important buildings of the early Renaissance. Leon Battista Alberti's white marble facade — modelled on a Roman triumphal arch and intended to wrap a Gothic Franciscan church inside — was begun in the 1450s and remains unfinished, the upper section a stark broken line against the sky.

The interior is a treasure house: Sigismondo Malatesta's tomb, Isotta degli Atti's chapel, a crucifix by Giotto, and a fresco by Piero della Francesca showing Sigismondo himself kneeling before his patron saint. Open most days; admission free.

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A story
Sigismondo Malatesta commissioned Leon Battista Alberti to encase an existing Franciscan church in a Renaissance marble shell in honour of his mistress Isotta degli Atti. The pope at the time, Pius II, took such exception to the result — and to Sigismondo's general behaviour — that he formally canonised Sigismondo's enemies and burned the prince in effigy in Rome. The temple was never finished.

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