Cattolica: past, present and legends - Situated on the border between Romagna and Marche, Cattolica is part of the Riviera Romagnola; tourism is fundamental in its present, but let’s not forget that it’s an ancient town, quoted in Dante’s Divine Comedy.
Cattolica’s
adventure as an independent town began in 1896, when it parted from San
Giovanni in Marignano, the agricultural importance of which is to be reminded:
it was considered “the granary of the Malatestas”, (the family that ruled those
territories), referring to its hills, where wine and the harvestings of wheat
were abundant. The first referring to Cattolica, anyway, is to be found in an
act in which, in 1271, some inhabitants of the surrounding towns affirmed their
intention to move under the government of Rimini, in the land of the
archiepiscopate of Ravenna. Moreover, if we want to reach the first clues of
the existence of a human installation in the area in which Cattolica is built
nowadays, there are archaeological excavations that prove the presence of
installations around 200 b.C. . The nearness of the sea, of the hills and the
fact of being crossed by the river Tavollo have no doubt encouraged the choice
of this territory as a basis for agriculture, hunting and, most of all,
fishing, as we can notice from the typical dishes that nowadays are on
Cattolica’s tables: mantis shrimps, Venus shells, ink-fishes and much more
remind the nearness of the sea, while piadine take us back to the farmers’
meals, that can be comfortably eaten away from home and even cold.
Cattolica
has the honour of a quoting in the Divine Comedy: Dante quotes it in the XXVIII
canto of the Inferno, where sowers of discontent are punished: the law of
retaliation provides for them a physical division, equal to the moral one that
they provoked when they were alive. The town is named when a damned soul makes
a prophecy about the destiny of two citizens of Fano, rebelling to their
despotic lord: according to the prophecy, they will be thrown out of their ship
in Cattolica.
Looking
at its present, Cattolica obviously still has the favour of its geographical
position, and offers its benefits to the thousands of tourists that it hosts
every year; apart from its natural luck, Cattolica is proud of its big
aquarium, “Le Navi”, extended on a 110 thousand square meters area and, being
on the sea, it gives space to fantasy, letting us imagine to be really
underwater. The name of the aquarium comes from the form of the buildings and
their disposition, that reminds a fleet; its biggest pride are the sharks,
different species of which are hosted, for a total of 50.
And
underwater, apart from fishes, some people are sure that you could find a
submerged city: Conca. They say that its entrance should be right in
Cattolica’s vicinities, and this belief is nourished by the numerous stones
that have been found in the surroundings, coming from the sea, that seem to be
part of some sculptures: a kind of Atlantis, of which no one has still proved
the existence – nor the contrary.
On
Cattolica’s beach, then, you could find mysterious stones; but if you don’t, it
doesn’t matter: three sails in the Blue Guide by Legambiente and the Blue Flag
in 2007 promise a nice beach and a beautiful sea, with or without submerged
cities.
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