Mondaino is about 30 km from Rimini, 25 from Urbino, 20 from both Riccione and Pesaro, and 15 from Cattolica. The highway exits are Cattolica coming from the north, and Pesaro from the south. It can also be reached by bus lines n° 175 and 180. The village name, which evolved throughout the centuries (MONS DAMARUM-MONTE DAINO-MONDAINO), refers to fallow deers which used to live in large numbers in the local woods. Mondaino dates its origin back to the Etruscans who, in their expansion towards the Po valley, settled in these areas after ousting the Umbrians. In Roman times, Mondaino was known for the presence of a temple dedicated to Diana, the goddess of hunting and forests which abundantly covered this mountain. In 1289, Mondaino, along with other castles in the Rimini area, rebelled against Urbino, aligning itself with the Malatesta family, thus becoming the “country of the pacts”, that is, the place where the Malatesta and Montefeltro dynasties experienced their contacts and contrasts. In 1393, Carlo Malatesta signed a peace treaty with his bitter enemy Antonio da Montefeltro; in 1459, Pandolfo Malatesta met Frederick II, Duke of Urbino, in the convent founded, centuries earlier, by Saint Francis on the neighbouring Mount Formosino. In 1462 the treaty with the Malatesta was little more than a memory and Frederick succeeded in conquering Mondaino castle, which he then donated to the Church. Among the main events in Mondaino’s history was the reported presence of a ghost that entertained itself by enlivening the daily calm of the Mondainese and thus creating an aura of mystery, and a twinship with Scottish castles is now under way. In 1516, the poet Giovanni Muzzarelli, a famous personality in Ubaldo di Montefeltro’s court, was killed by a betrayed husband. Mondaino’s land remained the property of the Church until 1797, when they became part of the Cisalpine Republic under the occupancy of Napoleone Bonaparte. On September 11th 1860, the Piedmontese troops crossed the Church State frontier between Cattolica and Mondaino, and they invaded the Marche region to join Garibaldi who was fighting in southern Italy. Since then Mondaino and its story has followed the ups and downs of the Kingdom of Italy.