In the year of the 600th anniversary of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta’s birth, Rimini Municipality celebrates the warrior and tireless patron who deeply marked the history of Rimini, with a series of initiatives scheduled until October 2018 when the 550th anniversary of his death will be remembered.
The two days will begin with a special birthday celebration, 19th June at 9 pm in the courtyard of Castel Sismondo. After the greetings by the Mayor of Rimini, Andrea Gnassi, there will be the presentation of the book by Oreste Delucca dedicated to the figure of Isotta degli Atti, first lover, then third wife of Sigismondo, followed by a reading by Marina Massironi of the monologue for female voice written by Lia Celi and Andrea Santangelo. The celebration will end with a show of lights and fires, where the absolute protagonist is the Castel Sismondo, the residence of the Sigismondo and the city's defense.
On Tuesday 20th June, other appointments will complete the first days of celebrations:
- a special philatelic annulment by the Poste Italiane for the 600 years of Sigismondo Malatesta will be available in Piazza Cavour, Palazzo del Podestà, from 10.30 am to 3.30 pm. Everyone who arrives with a postcard with stamp, will get a special annulment made by Poste Italiane.
- at 3 pm, Piazza Cavour will host a ceremony: "La pietra restituita” , the returned stone.
In Spring of 1944, after the bombings of the II World War, when perhaps no one was thinking about the reconstruction of the Malatestian Temple, Luigi Varoli  an artist and teacher from Cotignola, was in Rimini, where he loaded stones on his cart, which he had collected from the rubble of the church designed by Leon Battista Alberti and wanted by Sigismondo Malatesta. After the death of Varoli, the Municipality of Cotignola received all the possessions of the artist and on the occasion of the ceremony, they returned to Rimini a small and symbolic fragment of Temple.
The reconstruction of the event will be held in collaboration with the association Zeinta di Borg.
- at 9 pm, a suggestive performance is staged in the Malatestian castle: 'Il Momo' by Leon Battista Alberti, a novel about human insanity. It is a project by Alberto Giorgio Cassani, with direction by Gianfranco Tondini, music composed and performed by Giovanni Dal Monte, and with Massimo Cacciari who will highlight the philosophical components of this particular text.
The satirical novel by Leon Battista Alberti, which is acknowledged as an extraordinary work of the Renaissance, will close these first days dedicated to Sigismondo Malatesta, and the initiatives will continue. In addition, the most important events, cultural and entertaining festivals, will feature initiatives and tributes to the figure of Sigismondo.