Ventoso, Borgo Maggiore's balcony over the Riviera

The name gives most of it away. Ventoso, «windy», is a cluster of houses in Borgo Maggiore sitting on an exposed saddle, on the road out of San Marino towards Verucchio. There’s no monument or museum, and I’m not going to pretend there is. What it does have is a huge view over the Riviera, a street name that doubles as a history lesson and a grape festival at the end of summer. For me it’s a five-minute stop in the car, or an afternoon if the festival’s on.

The tenth gualdaria

Ventoso’s main street is called Via Decima Gualdaria, and that name is the most interesting thing about the place. According to Wikipedia, San Marino’s territory was split in the Middle Ages into ten gualdarie, from the Germanic Wald, forest, and Ventoso, the Castrum Ventosi of old maps, was the tenth. The same article notes that the word curazia is no longer used in official paperwork and probably dates from when farmland and the families who worked it came under the parish priest of Borgo Maggiore.

There’s another detail I like because it explains why San Marino spread this way. Wikipedia’s article on Acquaviva says that on 19 December 1243 Guido di Cerreto sold the Sammarinese the right to collect tolls at Cerreto and at Ventoso. Sitting on the short road to Verucchio made this saddle a border point worth money, and people paid for it.

So what can you actually see from Ventoso?

This is the reason to pull over. Wikipedia describes Ventoso’s position as highly panoramic, with a wide field of vision over the whole Romagna coast. It adds that the Gabicce headland is nearly always visible and that on the clearest days you can make out St Mark’s bell tower in Venice. I’d file that last one under exceptional days, not a guarantee. What I value is the trade-off. Up in the City, two of the finest viewpoints, the Guaita and Cesta towers, are only open with the €11 museum pass. Here the same stretch of coast costs nothing and you’re unlikely to share the lay-by with anyone.

The same lie of the land explains the name. According to Wikipedia, Ventoso catches winds from the north-west, east and south-west, while Mount Titano to the west shields it from the mistral. For more high points facing the sea, I’ve gathered them in San Marino’s viewpoints.

The grape festival

The official 2024 calendar of castelli festivals included Ventoso’s Festa dell’Uva from 23 to 25 August. Wikipedia says it’s held in the Passo del Sorbo park, a green space created where the country’s largest concrete works stood until it moved to Ca’ Martino in 1998, and that it marks the start of the harvest. The dates don’t quite line up, since Wikipedia talks of mid-September and the government gave August in 2024. I’d go with the official date and, as no 2026 calendar has been published, check with the Borgo Maggiore council before travelling.

If the festival makes you curious about what the country drinks, I cover the winery and its bottles in San Marino wine. And the village of Valdragone, on the other side of Borgo, holds the oldest known vineyard lease, from 1253.

Giro d’Italia, rally and classic cars

Ventoso’s roads have a modest sporting record. According to Wikipedia, the Ventoso climb has been a King of the Mountains summit in some editions of the Giro d’Italia, and the San Marino Rally and classic-car tours have used these roads too. I’ve no future dates with a source, so I wouldn’t tell you to come and watch, but if you’re cycling round here it’s a climb with a name.

Reaching Ventoso and working it into a trip

By car, Ventoso lies on the shortest road to Verucchio, so the obvious move is to pass through on the way to that Marecchia valley town. By bus, AASS line 2 starts at car park P9 in the City, then heads down through Murata, Borgo Maggiore and Ventoso to Gualdicciolo, which already belongs to Acquaviva, and on to Molarini. It’s one of the few lines still running from 16 June to 14 September, weekdays only, and fares were waived between 2 March and 30-9-2026. On Sundays you’re left with SMUVI, which I explain in getting around San Marino.