Guaita (First Tower)
The oldest of Mount Titano's three towers, a walled fortress with ramparts open to visitors.
The Guaita, also called La Rocca, crowns the northernmost of the three peaks of Mount Titano and is the oldest of the fortifications that appear on the San Marino coat of arms. A refuge is thought to have stood on the rock by about the year 1000. The tower reached its greatest military importance in the fifteenth century, during the republic's war with the Malatesta lords of Rimini in 1463. Successive rebuildings gave it the double ring of curtain walls that visitors cross today.
Inside the outer bailey stands the small chapel of Santa Barbara, together with the guardrooms and barracks that once housed the garrison. Part of the complex served as the state prison until 1975. Visitors can walk the ramparts and climb the keep for views over the city, the Cesta tower on the neighbouring summit and, on clear days, the Adriatic coast. The tower forms part of the Historic Centre of San Marino and Mount Titano, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2008.
Highlights
- Double ring of curtain walls with a walkable rampart circuit
- Chapel of Santa Barbara inside the outer bailey
- Cells used as the republic's prison until 1975
- Views across Mount Titano towards the Adriatic
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