Ex Castrum Medi, also called Galliolo or Gaiola or Garzoleto or Castel Bernardo) is located at over 200 meters above sea level, it constitutes a natural balcony, from which the gaze can sweep towards a wide horizon in which the Gradara Castle stands out, the “pens” of San Marino and the “hump” of the Catria.
In Casteldimezzo part of the walls are preserved, once interspersed with numerous towers while the fortress has now disappeared and has given way to a well-known restaurant.
Particularly interesting is the Church dedicated to the Saints of Ravenna Apollinare and Cristoforo, which houses an ancient 15th century Crucifix around which an adventurous story is told, remembered by a plaque dated 1652 placed in the Church itself.
From here the view takes your breath away.
On clear days the blue of the sea is so immense that the gaze finds itself twirling on the placid surface in a state of complete and total serenity.
This castle has become famous throughout the region and also outside of it, for the history of the miraculous “crucifix from the sea”. We enter the small church of the village, in front of us a beautiful wooden crucifix of Venetian manufacture dating back to the early 1500s.
In those years it had been shipped by sea and transported in a crate but, involved in a shipwreck, landed on the coast between Fiorenzuola and Casteldimezzo.
To contend for the object of devotion, the two cities decided to load it on an ox cart and leave the choice to fate. The oxen walked without hesitation towards Casteldimezzo and stopped in front of the church.
Since then the crucifix is said to have been the promoter of numerous miracles, including a narrow siege by the Medici Lordship against the Duchy of Montefeltro.
And you, do you believe in miracles?