Tourist Attraction in City of San Marino:
Torre La Rocca

The Rocca, also known as Guaita or Prima Torre, is the largest and the oldest of the three rocks dominating the City of San Marino. The word Guaita, still present in the local dialect, means "guarding" and probably comes from the German "Weite" (space or wide). After the last restoration of the 1930s, the Rocca was made accessible to visitors. Numerous restoration and reinforcement works modified the structure of the tower, but without removing its primitive roughness. The central core of the tower was a guard and refuge for the first inhabitants of Mount Titano and dates back to the eleventh century. Two defensive wall enclosures protect the tower. The outer ring, crowned by merlature and reinforced by corner towers, was already part of the first group of walls built to defend the city. The interior is instead the oldest. Accessed via a raised entrance, it encloses itself in the Torre Campanaria, the Pen Tower and the legions' chambers, later converted into prisons. The tower has a pentagonal plant and has no foundation as it rests directly on the rock of the mountain. A Baroque coat of arms of the Republic, transported by the old Public Palace, adorns the front door while in the courtyard there are some artillery pieces, two mortals donated by King Vittorio Emanuele II and two cannons with which the Guard of Rocca fires during the holiday days, gift of Vittorio Emanuele III. A small altar of the south tower was dedicated to Santa Barbara, the protector of the artillery, while the present church, built close to the outer walls, is a work of 1960. It is a small building, characterized by simple shapes, with a lunchtime lunette ornament of the door, coming from a church of the Castle of Domagnano. A stone altar carries the bronze effigy of the Holy One, with six tower-shaped candles, made in 1979 by Florentine sculptor Bino Bini. The tower, which, with its "Campanone", during the past centuries attracted citizens to the defense of the country in times of danger, was probably built in the 16th century. Today, the "Campanone" remembers only the main civil and religious celebrations of the Republic of San Marino. From the top of the bell tower you can admire the whole city, the mountains of the Apennines and the nearby castles, such as Verucchio. It is a reconstruction of the mid-fifteenth century of the ancient watchtower. From the top of the tower you can admire the walls of Second Tower, the plain stretching up to the Adriatic, the Apennine reliefs and Mount Carpegna. The premises of the garrison houses were used from the mid-18th century until 1970 as prisoners. In the cells of the prison were accommodated those who had to pay penalties not exceeding six months while for higher penis was expected to be transferred to Italian prisons. Since 1970, the jail has been moved to the Cape of Capuccini City.

Attractions in City of San Marino