Rimini–Riccione tramway In 1877, a
horse-drawn tram service was inaugurated connecting Rimini's city centre to the coast, replacing a previous horse-drawn omnibus service from 1844. The service ran from Piazza Cavour to a bathing complex at the site of the present-day Parco Federico Fellini. In July 1921, with a loan of 1.2 million lire from the local
Cassa di Risparmio, the route was electrified and extended southwards along the principal seafront avenue to the site of the present-day Piazza Marvelli. Further southern extensions followed to Miramare in 1925, and to Viale Ceccarini in Riccione's city centre on 26 June 1927, only now made possible by newly built carriageable bridges over the Torrente Marano and Rio Melo. Entering Riccione, the trolleybuses left the principal seafront avenue at Viale Giuseppe Verdi, and entered the city centre along Viale Dante, the next road inland parallel to the coast. and its management was entrusted to of
Florence until 1959. Tram services ceased on 15 January 1939. The route had new termini: in Rimini, the central Piazza Giulio Cesare (renamed Piazza Tre Martiri in 1946); and in Riccione, Piazzale dei Giardini. Riccione's terminus was reconfigured shortly after its construction to bring trolleybuses to terminate on the 's mountain-facing side, thereby avoiding trolleybuses passing near the seaside
Villa Mussolini and disturbing guests. during which time bombing damaged the roads and directly hit two trolleybuses. Services were initially amended to allow trolleybuses to run on unaffected sections,
ATAM and route 10 After its twenty years had passed, Rimini's
communist mayor decided not to renew SITA's contract. Thus, numbered as route 11, the system passed into the control of Rimini's municipal council on 1 October 1959, which formed ATAM () to manage the line in July 1960. but the reversing loop in the overhead wires that allowed trolleybuses to terminate there was retained, and rare shortworkings to Miramare were designated "11/" (11-). In 1985, the line was rerouted in Riccione along the principal seafront avenue rather than Viale Dante. The new terminus was referred to as "Giardini C.". This loop was used by trolleybuses for only 12 days in October 1999 and then from March or April 2000 to mid-June, with buses working the route in the interim. Until 1 November 1998, the Rimini terminus of line 11 was in the central Piazza Tre Martiri. Following the pedestrianisation of the piazza, from 2 November 1998, the route was shortened by to Piazzale San Girolamo on Via Dante Alighieri. The extension of service to Terme opened on 11 June 2000, but not for trolleybuses, as the route again became temporarily bus-operated while work continued on the extension wiring and restoring the connecting wires of the Piazza Curiel loop. From June 2000, trips limited to Piazzale Curiel had been redesignated as "11/" (11-). The shortworking terminus continued to be referred to as "Giardini C." on maps, at stops, and on vehicle
destination signs. and were the oldest trolleybuses still in service in Western Europe. The first unit was delivered in June 2009. The series was originally numbered 6501–6506. After the end of the day's service on 14 September 2009, the Volvo B59 Mauri trolleybuses were taken out of service, as the Italian regulatory authority USTIF had revoked their authorisations. Because the overhead wire was not extended to Piazzale Gramsci, the articulated vehicles had to cover that short section using their auxiliary diesel engines.
Start Romagna On 1 January 2012, TRAM was absorbed by Start Romagna SpA, a then-new regional entity which would manage public transport within three provinces. Upon Start Romagna's creation, the fleet was renumbered with the addition of a prefix "3", becoming 36501–36506.
Metromare In July 2012, construction started on a
trolleybus rapid transit line to run adjacent to the
Bologna–Ancona railway between the railway stations of Rimini and Riccione. The project was first proposed in 1994 by city planner
Leonardo Benevolo, but construction was continually postponed amid local opposition and a delay to the disbursement of central government financing. The contracts for engineering and constructing the line were signed in 2008. From its inception until February 2018, the project was known as '
(TRC)' (Coastal Rapid Transport). The major impetus for the project was that heavy traffic congestion along the streets used by the route 11 during the summer touristic season led trolleybuses to take up to an hour to complete the route. At its inception, it was planned that Metromare would replace route 11 once opened, but in 2008
Trolleybus Magazine reported that it had been decided "to postpone any consideration of closing the existing trolleybus line until after the new segregated route has commenced operation." Metromare was originally planned to use
guided trolleybuses, After the fleet's delivery was delayed, the coordination committee decided to launch Metromare provisionally on 23 November 2019 with motorbuses. Following an additional delay caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic, the first trolleybus arrived on 12 June 2020, and all nine had been delivered by February 2021. Testing began in July 2020 and the vehicles were approved in September 2021, entering service on 28 October 2021. Planning is underway for a northern extension of the Metromare from the railway station to
Rimini Fiera. The route will run alongside the Bologna-Ancona railway, with six intermediate stops. The works contract is due to be awarded in December 2023, with construction starting in the summer of 2024. The third stage of the Metromare is expected to be a southern extension to
Misano and
Cattolica. ==Route descriptions==