Talamello is a small, quiet medieval town situated on the green slopes of Mount Pincio which hides many treasures of sacred art and of the land. Talamello belonged to the Church of Feretrio until 1226. Regained from the Papal State, the town was entrusted as a feud to Count Uguccione della Faggiola. Later, Talamello was acquired by Galeotto Malatesta in 1390 and it became one of the many possessions of the lords of Rimini. It was during the seigniory of the Malatesta that one of the most famous painters of the time, Antonio Alberti da Ferrara, was commissioned to paint the frescos in the magnificent Cella del cimitero (Cemetery cell) adjoining the Chiesa di San Lorenzo (Church of St Lawrence). In the late 15^th century, Pope Pius took the town out of the hands of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta when he, Sigismondo, fell out with the Church, and assigned the town as a feud to the Counts Guidi di Bagno di Romagna and Malatesta di Sogliano. It was under their rule that gunpowder began to be produced at the various mills; and this was to continue for another five hundred years, until the 1950s. Only two sites remain now, in the area of Campiano, where you can still see two octagonal stores of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. There are various signs of the past in the centre of this small town, like the fountain in the main square and the handsome Palazzo Rusticucci crowned by elegant merlons. Talamello is best known by gourmets, however, for what the poet and playwright Tonino Guerra called the “Ambra di Talamello”, also known as the “Formaggio di fossa”, or “Pit Cheese”. There is a festival dedicated to the Ambra di Talamello every autumn; though even if you come another season, you can still taste and buy it at the Locanda dell’Ambra, an inn on the main square. The inn (where you can also spend the night) occupies part of a castle which no longer exists. Inside, you can also see the cheese pits. As well as caciotta cheese, Talamello offers another product of excellence: the chestnuts of Valmarecchia. Simply walk up to Monte Pincio through its chestnut woods to appreciate the sheer richness of this land. Talamello: two well-known people are from here – the musician Amintore Galli, author of Inno dei Lavoratori, and the painter Fernando Gualtieri an impressive collection of whose work can be seen at the Museo Pinacoteca Gualtieri.

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