Cesenatico and the sea are one and the same thing. The ancient coloured sails of the Marine Museum, almost the only one in Italy, greeting the people who arrive and leave, tell of this. Those sails, those old boats, that port which in 1502 Leonardo da Vinci "general 'architect and engineer" studied and surveyed on commission of Cesare Borgia (the ori¬ginal drawing is preserved in the National Library in Paris), are the synthesis and story of Ce¬senatico. Historical and archaeological sources indicate a Roman settlement in this area.

As far as we know, Cesenatico was founded in 1302: nearby Cesena needed a port for its traffic and perhaps for military use. Those were hard times. After a succession of events, Ce¬senatico developed above all into a fishing port. When the dominion of the Borgia family came to an end, the town fell under the Papal State.And it is not by chance that the "white bream" (a kind of blue-fish) in Italian is called "papa¬lina" (papal), because the huge catches of this fish, duly salted and preserved, were destined for the markets of Rome and therefore for the Pope.

The bell of history stroke other significant hours on the port of Cesenatico: on the night of 2nd August 1849, Garibaldi with Anita, Ugo Bassi and other patriots arrived here; they had escaped from Rome and were heading for Venice, hunted both over land and sea by their pursuers.