Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-06-30
R|M|N|, TYPICAL CITY
OF ITALIAN CHARM
Picturesque Monument Of the Past
in Italy Once Domi-
nant Seaport.

Among the seaports recently visited
by the Austrian fleet, Rimln1, ahcieh'
Ariminum, the Adriatic seaport op'
posite the diminutive Republic OF Dan
Marine, is a city of typical leaiian
charm, Il place intimately associa'eo
with the big events of early history
| fascinating for the strange romahces
| lived within it's bounds, and hlled Will
memories of those absorbing contra
dictions that go to make up the 1tai'in
temperament. This little port forms
the subject Of today's study in war
geography issued by the National
Geographic Society.
"Rimini, just below Pola, the Austrian
| naval base across the Adriatic. once an
Umbrian colony, then an Etruscan port
and later acquired by Rome as base
against the Gauls, is a picturesque
monument to the past, rather than a
place of present large Importance
When growing Rome met Carthage for
the mastery of the maritime world
Rimini became an important naval
port. Here was stationed quaester
of the fleet, and from here the mer-
chants of Dido's city were harried on
their ventures through the Adriatic and
Ionian seas.
Once a Vital Point.
THE power of Rome reached out
through this port for the control OF
the Mediterranean, of earth's one great
mercantile sea. Rimini is no longer a
point of significant strategic value to
the power on the Italian peninsula, but
in Roman days it was a vital element
in the plan by which the Latin city
became the mistress of the world. The
Via Flaminia terminated here, and the
Via Aemilia started at this port. The
best of military roads linked it to the
master city.
Augustus honored the city with a
triumphal arch and 4 massive bridge of
Istrian marble. In the forum here
Julius Caesar fred the enthusiasm of
his soldiers after crossing the neigh
boring Rubicon, on his march against
Rome and her senate. Early in the
sixth century the Goths were stayed
without the gates of Rimini's fortifica-
tions, and, later, Rimini became one of
the 'fve-city league which included
Pesaro, Fano, Sinigaglia and Ancona.
"Ferocious, treacherous. vindictive,
cultured, forceful and progressive, the
great family of the Malatesta. the
'Wrongheads,' SO genuinely product
of whimsical, beautiful, contradictory
Italia, came into power in Rimini dur
ing the twelfth century. Lords of the
Castle of Verruchio, the Wrongheads,
brought forth in one of their violent
race a character so wildly odd as to
make the story of his life Rininfs
master romance. Brave, generous, cruel,
diabolical in his cunning and cynical
strategy, strong. learned, half devil
and half angel and all the shades be-
tween, Sigismondo. most wronsheaded
of all the Wrongheads, expressed the
threefoid soul of Italy-the Borgia, the
Machiavelli and the Dante.
Wildly Odd Character.
"Sigismondo was a leader in the early
Renaissance, a scholar and an artist.
He built in 1888 the castle. of which
part remains, which was once held to
be the strongest in Italy. He was
active in promoting Europe's reawak-
ening of spirit. in the re-establishment
of a science and an art without the
constraining bounds of the church
Yet he murdered three wives in sue
cession, lived a life of unbridled lust,
and was attacked by the church Tor
long list of black, violent> offenses.
However, the tribute that he paid TO
scholarship was genuine. and between
intrigues, military duties and his
crimes he spent his time with phlioso.
pliers. savants and artists. He built
the Church of st. Francesca at
Rimiui. a strange work of classic art,
built by plumber and sanctlfylns lts
odd builder, and in appearance more
of a pagan temple than OF Christiah
church"