San Leo - Pieve di Santa Maria Assunta

San Leo, a small town about 35 kilometers southwest of Rimini, borders the small state of San Marino, as does Verucchio (prev. upload).

The town was under the rule of the Lombards since 568. The first bishop mentioned was called Agathus and in 826 he took part in a bishops' meeting in Rome. The Lombard Duke Orso resided here since 885. In the dispute between the German king Otto I and his rival Berengar II who held court here between 962 and 963, the latter was besieged by Otto I and forced to surrender. He was then taken prisoner to Bamberg, where he died.

In 1155 Montefeltrano I the first member of the noble family of Montefeltro, is mentioned in San Leo. In 1226, Emperor Frederick II granted two of his descendants the County of Urbino, which included the town and its surroundings. After battles between the Montefeltro and the Malatesta of Rimini, from 1441 the town belonged again to the original lords.

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Only about 100 meters from the Cathedral stands the pre-Romanesque Pieve (parish church), dedicated to the "Vergine Assunta". According to tradition, it was St. Leo himself who built the first church, when, between the 3rd and 4th centuries, he evangelized the locals here.