The three Pietracuta
In the area where Pietracuta stands today, there was in late Roman times only the settlement of today's Libiano.
The name derives from the Latin 'Livianum praedium', meaning land of Livius, the late imperial Roman latifundium that belonged to Livius.
From Livianus to Libianus and then Libianus.
In the following centuries, a community of people formed on the cliff above today's Pietracuta, a steep-sided rock, in fact a 'sharp rock' consisting of a fortress, a castle with a small village attached.
In 962 A.D., Emperor Otto I made this territory part of the fiefdom of Count Ulderico di Carpegna, known as Ulderico the Saxon, who had already been enfeoffed as a count by the emperor himself because Ulderico had faithfully served Otto during the imperial campaign in Italy against Berengar II of Ivrea.
Ulderico's son, Nolfo Count of Pietracuta, fortified his castle in 996 with both the fortress and the walls.
A lintel of the fortress reads 'Nulfus Carpineus Comes', meaning Nolfo Count of Carpegna.
The descendants of Nolfo owned the castle until 1221 when the people of Pietracuta redeemed it from the Counts of Carpegna in return for payment.
The territory of the Fortress of Pietracuta with the attached village later passed to the Dukes of Urbino who were descendants of the Counts of Carpegna and who had the castle included in the jurisdiction of San Leo.
Subsequently, the fortress was incorporated into San Marino territory for about 70 years and then returned to San Leo.
The site is now abandoned.
The wealthy latifundist families of San Leo, during the 17th century, began to build their villas on the plains where the village of Pietracuta stands today.
They built them to have both a more pleasant summer stay in a pleasant area close to the Marecchia river and with a less harsh winter climate than San Leo, and for logistical convenience as the road from the Upper Marecchia Valley to Rimini passed through there.
The site built on the plain retained the name of the medieval site on the summit of the rock above.
It is recalled that the post office for horses was at what is now the hamlet of Ponte Verucchio, not far from Pietracuta.
Thus, little by little, the village of Pietracuta developed, with dwellings that became permanent.
By Gaetano Dini
