Borgo Maggiore (Italian pronunciation:[ˈborgomadˈdʒoːre]; Romagnol: E Bórgh; lit.'Major borough') is one of the nine castelli of San Marino. It lies at the foot of Monte Titano and has a population of 6,871 (May 2018),[1] making it the second largest town of San Marino after Dogana.
History
The area was previously called Mercatale ("marketplace") and remains today the most important market town in San Marino. Though it is not the most populated, the Market, as well as the connection to San Marino City, make it very much a city-like shopping hub.
Five of San Marino's eight bus lines stop in Borgo Maggiore.[8] Borgo Maggiore is also served by coaches running between Rimini and the City of San Marino.[9]
Between 1932 and 1944, a 31.5-kilometre (19.6-mile) electrifiednarrow gauge railway operated between Rimini and the City of San Marino; Borgo Maggiore was the penultimate station on the Rimini–San Marino railway before the City.[10] Its station was located on the present-day Via Ventotto Luglio, near Borgo Maggiore's elementary school and less than 100 metres (330 feet) downhill from the present-day Funivia terminus.[11][12] The station was double-tracked, with one short track on the Rimini side serving the station's goods warehouse.[13] During the Second World War, the line was bombed and closed.[10][14] After the war, the railway was abandoned in favour of the San Marino Highway.[15][16] Borgo Maggiore's railway station was demolished and became a car park.[12][17][18]
Between 1961 and 1969, Compagnia Italiana Elicotteri operated helicopter flights between Borgo Maggiore and Rimini's port; the service was extended to San Leo in 1964. The cablecar to the City of San Marino was included in flight tickets,[19][20] which would cost up to 12,500 lire.[19] After the service's closure in 1969, the heliport was replaced by a parking lot for the Funivia.[21][22]
^"Borgo Maggiore". San Marino Web (in Italian). Retrieved 9 February 2024.
^Santini, Simone (1 September 2017). "Rimini-San Marino, ma che Consolare è?" [But what kind of consular road is the Rimini-San Marino?]. Il Ponte (in Italian). Retrieved 1 January 2024.
^Giuliani-Balestrino, Maria Clotilde (2005). "La superstrada Rimini-San Marino" [The Rimini-San Marino railway] (PDF). Studi e Ricerche di Geografia (in Italian). 29 (1): 1–4.
^Piccioni, Elisabetta (April 2011). "Il Viaggio Interrotto: La Ferrovia Elettrica Rimini–San Marino" [The Interrupted Journey: The Rimini–San Marino Electric Railway]. I Martedì (in Italian) (292). Bologna: Centro San Domenico: 18–22.
