Witches’ Path (Passo delle Streghe)

The Witches’ Path is one of the most admired and photographed spots outside the walls of San Marino’s Historic Center! Perfect for a romantic kiss at dawn… or sunset… it leaves tourists and San Marino citizens always in awe!

From the Witches’ Path, you can admire the Adriatic Sea, the Romagna coast, and more; on clearer days, the horizon extends beyond the Comacchio valleys and past Monte Gabicce! It’s difficult to explain in words how vast this view is – we recommend experiencing it firsthand!

Where is it located?

There are three ways to reach this super panoramic point, here they are in order of charm:

• Descending from the Second Tower (Cesta), about fifty meters after the viewpoint, a fork opens on the right, and a few dozen meters ahead you’ll reach the Witches’ Path, where you can take it “uphill” to reach the walkway leading to the First Tower (Guaita).
• Less romantic but equally spectacular is the reverse route: descending from the First Tower Guaita towards the second, you’ll have the chance to pass through the Path and admire the Cesta Tower framed by the beautiful landscape ahead of you.
• If you’re a photo hunter and want to “simply” capture the Witches’ Path, you could park your car in parking lot n6. Walking about one hundred to one hundred and fifty meters, you’ll find a stone staircase in the middle of the woods. You’ll arrive right on the Path’s walkway. In this article, we point out all San Marino’s parking lots.

The Legend of San Marino’s Witches’ Path

These were dark years, where legends and traditions intertwined to flow into fearsome popular beliefs.

In medieval times, within San Marino’s fortified walls, whenever a guard saw a black cat, the order was to kill it! Killing the black cat could save one of the court’s girls. Indeed, popular belief held that some black cats could host the transformed body of a witch, ready to reveal herself as soon as a girl more beautiful than her crossed her path, to kill her and steal her body!

However, no one could imagine that the most beautiful girl of Mount Titan was herself a witch and that every night she would go to the Witches’ Path, where thanks to the power of moonlight, she could transform into a cat, witch, or splendid maiden.

The Legend Continues

At night, on the plateau below the Witches’ Path, dozens of girls would gather around large fires to perform mysterious rituals! However, no one knew exactly what they were doing – some said they performed evil rituals, others that they spoke with departed souls, while others claimed they were women of loose morals.

In reality, as the beautiful girl herself recounts in a story transcribed by an anonymous author, the girls gathered to experiment, dance, and forget the grey days spent alone while the men were working the land. They used herbs, wood from different trees, earth, and colorful flowers to create real potions… fragrant ones! Indeed, the “witches” of San Marino’s Path were more like an ancient form of herbalists, who met at night to celebrate life, dancing around the fire and singing ancient ballads.

The inhabitants of Mount Titan, frightened but also curious about what from afar seemed like frightening whispers and rustles, decided to establish a guard corps to prevent women from approaching the walls.

During one of the rounds, a bold young man gathered his courage and decided to discover what was happening at the path. As soon as he arrived behind the last trees that allowed him to hide, he was shocked by the beauty of the young dancers. Above all, he noticed the most beautiful girl in San Marino and immediately fell in love.

Every young lover is ready to do foolish things, so he decided to wait until the following morning to declare his love to the beautiful witch and swear to protect her secret and her life. From that night on, the young guard began to regularly see the beautiful girl, keeping the secret from everyone and living the rest of his days in this forbidden story. They spent many happy years, full of music, ballads, wine, and love, and from their last full moon night of an unspecified year, nothing more is known about them!

There are still people who swear they can hear them laughing and joking during summer nights but… Should you happen to be in the area, don’t confuse the rustling of the wind that rises impetuously from the cliff through the tree branches with voices from a legend…

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