The Skyscraper of Rimini testifies to an important moment in the development of contemporary architecture in Italy and in the post-war history of the city of Rimini, and is a sign of the innovation and forward-looking nature of the city and its citizens. Like the skyscrapers of Cesenatico and Milano Marittima, the Skyscraper of Rimini represents a phase of the architectural experimentation in Italy between the 1950s and 1960s meant to boost tourism; the skyscrapers were designed as emblems of technology for the observation of nature. From these skyscrapers you were to see the sea, the city and the surrounding countryside. The mayor of Rimini at the time, Veniero Accreman, was keen to back this trend and took pains to convince the entire municipal council to approve a project that had been presented to him by Raoul Puhali, an engineer of Istria, and which had not been included in the original plans for the reconstruction of the city but could create employment and induced activity in the city. In the late 1950s, the reconstruction of Rimini was in full swing and the proposal for the design of the Skyscraper in Rimini met the urgent need to offer employment for a large number of people and firms and presented the possibility of creating a new, innovative look for the urban development of the city. The work began in October 1957 and was completed by October 1959. The Skyscraper was inaugurated in early 1960, with its 27 storeys and 180 apartments reaching up to a height of 100 metres. Situated near the station, it has had its fair share of history and now has a lively, multiethnic community where artists and people from the world of entertainment also come to live on account of its unusual appeal. A forepart was also built at the base as a way of integrating the skyscraper with its urban setting, with shops and communal centres which are sometimes used for staging shows and public events like the fiftieth anniversary of the Skyscraper in 2010.