Maiolo

The flavours of the past. Those of the bread, which here are made according to the traditional methods, using only local flours. An unparalleled rarity that has always fuelled the community and its most authentic spirit. Exploring the area means going into the Bread Museum, which extends from the grain fields to the boroughs with the farm houses and the typical stone ovens. The pleasure of simplicity culminates in a fragrant ritual, which inebriates the country's streets during the Bread Festival: for this unmissable event at end of June, all the historic furnaces are brought back into operation.
Pure, and uncompromisingly, is the beauty of this place, from which endless views of the valley are to be enjoyed. Due to its conformation, Maiolo offers many panoramic views, set as pearls in the precious fabric of the country, made of small sprawling nuclei, humble peasant houses, squares, streets and corners suspended in time. Reaching one of the “belvedere” (viewpoints), the view spans from Tuscany to the Adriatic sea: a dizzying amazement accompanies the eye from the Apennine peaks of Monte Fumaiolo and Monte Carpegna to the fortified towers of San Leo, to the castles of San Marino and the golden beaches of the Riviera of the Rimini.
The most famous view is the one that can be enjoyed by the Rocca di Maioletto, a mythical medieval fortress overlooking the landscape, sculpted by the hills, and the ruins of the destroyed village, from which Maiolo takes its name. The causes of devastation, which the legend attributes to a landslide which was a divine punishment, are still hidden in a mysterious mist, and fascinate contemporary geologists. The ruins of the fortress, on the contrary, recount its past in a clear voice: from the perimeter walls to the polygonal towers, the fortress lets one imagine a mighty structure and dates back to an epic era, the land is marked by the gestures of the lords of Faggiola, of Malatesta of Montefeltro, who alternated the domination of the fort.

It is generous land, Maiolo is also astonishing for its Renaissance heritage: the church of Santa Maria d'Antico, dotted with precious rosettes, houses the exclusive 15th-century statue "Madonna con figlio in braccio", in glazed ceramic; a fine fresco from the fifteenth century decorates the church of San Rocco, from which a suggestive path leads to the fortress; the church of Sant'Apollinare, in Poggio, preserves furnishings, paintings and an organ from the fifteenth century; the wooden statue of St. John is from the same period, present within the church bearing the same name; not far away, the castle of Antico, which in the shade of the woods of Monte Carpegna is ready to amaze visitors and to let the most romantic visitors fall in love