Malatesta Temple (Tempio Malatesta or Duomo) is an authentic jewel of the Italian Renaissance. It was commissioned by Sigismondo Malatesta around the middle of the 15th century to perpetuate his family’s and his own glory. It was Leon Battista Alberti‘s first architectural work. It was begun in 1447 and, even though it was never finished, it remains a great manifesto of Renaissance architecture.
Alberti transformed the pre-existing church of San Francesco into a work of shocking novelty. The reference to the classical style is evident in Alberti’s intervention: the great arch of the façade, inspired by the Arch of Augustus and bearing, on the frieze, the Latin inscription ‘Sigimundus Pandulfus Malatesta Pan F,V. Fecit Anno Gratiae MCCCCL”; the arches on the sides recalling the Tiberius Bridge; the 7 sarcophagi honouring the memories of illustrious poets, philosophers, scientists and distinguished citizens of Rimini, which are placed in each of them; the strongly plastic solution of the volumes constitute the typological characteristics of the new spatial concept of Humanism.
The entire building stands on a podium crowned by a band on which many Malatesta heraldic elements can be seen: from the actual family coat of arms (with the chequered band) to that with Sigismondo’s personal coat of arms (S and I), alternating with shields with the four-petal rose and the elephant.
Inside of Malatesta Temple, particularly noteworthy are the Chapel of the Angels (or of Isotta), which contains the sepulchral ark of Sigismondo’s wife, Isotta, and Giotto’s Crucifix, painted on a panel in 1300; Piero della Francesca’s fresco, painted in 1451 and depicting Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta genuflecting before St Sigismondo; the tomb of Sigismondo himself, located to the right of the entrance; the Arch of the Ancestors, where Sigismondo wanted to place the bones of his ancestors and descendants; a large canvas by Vasari depicting St Francis receiving the stigmata.
Malatesta Temple is now the Cathedral of Rimini. It is dedicated to St Columba, like the old city cathedral, demolished in the early 19th century.
