Fellini Museum (Museo Fellini) opens in Rimini, Italy

Rimini in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy may not appear regularly on travellers' must-see lists, being on the eastern Adriatic Sea, a far less photogenic coastline to that of the Ligurian Sea to the west, where the crowds gather on the chi-chi Riviera. But Italians love it for wide, placid-water-lapped stretches of sand that are home to a plethora of beach clubs hosting seaside family excursions by day, dance parties by night.

This northern summer, though, Rimini beckons visitors to its historic centre with a new cultural offering: a museum dedicated to the work of the iconic Italian filmmaker, Federico Fellini.

The 20th century movie maestro whose film, La Dolce Vita spawned the eponymous idiom, was born in Rimini in 1920 and many of his films, though not shot in, were inspired by or portrayed the seaside city.

The Anita Ekberg-starring 1960 classic lies within Fellini's canon of singular, artful cinema whose influence burns bright today.

The Fellini Museum (Museo Fellini) inhabits two historic buildings, one of which includes the cinema in which Fellini first discovered the world of film. They are linked by a large revitalised piazza, backdropped by Felliniesque projections on the surrounding walls.

Like Fellini's universe, the museum runs the gamut from fantastical and absurd to mysterious and surreal, to heartfelt and moving. But it also aims to transport both fans and newbies alike deep into the inspirations and processes of one of the world's greatest filmmakers.

Travellers are no longer required to show proof of vaccination, recent recovery or a negative test result to enter Italy following the country's last Covid-related restriction being lifted May 31.

Entry to the Fellini museum is €12 ($18). See fellinimuseum.it