Museo della Marineria Project

The Museo della Marineria in Cesenatico tells the Adriatic’s working-sea story through boats, tools, and voices from the port. Start in the indoor section, built like an old shipyard, where you walk among restored hulls and learn how crews built, rigged, and fished. Then step outside to the floating section on the Leonardesque canal port, where ten historic boats lie at moorings, with colorful “vele al terzo” sails raised in summer.

In Cesenatico, the Presepe della Marineria turns the canal port into a floating Nativity. Life-size wooden figures, over fifty, stand on boats from the Maritime Museum and tell the Christmas story in seafaring style. You see sailors, fishermen, and net menders alongside the Holy Family. At night, thousands of lights reflect on the water. Each winter, from late November into early January, you walk the harbor and watch it glow.