Ancona - The administrative centre of the region lies on the lowest northern slopes of M. Conero, which slope down to the sea, forming a wide natural bay. The town is of Greek origin; its name comes from the Greek word ?ncon' (elbow), from the shape of the bay. It passed under Roman influence in the 3rd century BC. and became increasingly important, particularly under the Emperor Trajan, who made it one of the biggest harbours in the Mediterranean. After the fall of the Roman Empire, it was ruled by the Byzantines and Lombards, then by the Church, although it succeeded in maintaining a degree of autonomy for centuries. From the 12th to 16 th centuries, Ancona went through a troubled period, being the scene of struggles between Emperors, Popes and local overlords. In the 13th century, the town expanded within a circle of walls surrounding the Astagno hill, its real development began in the 15th century, when it started to spread along the coast. In 1532 the town lost its autonomy and was finally annexed to the Papal States, whose fortunes it shared until 1860, when it became part of the Kingdom of Italy. During World War II it was heavily bombarded and in 1972 an earthquake damaged the ancient city centre and most of the monuments.
The monuments include: Trajan's Arch (2nd century AD.), Duomo of St. Ciriaco on mt. Guasco (11th century, the Cathedral Romanesque, on the site of an early Christian building), Church of S. Maria della Piazza (12th century, Romanesque), Loggia dei Mercanti (15th century), San Francesco delle Scale (14th century, with a beautiful Gothic-Venetian portal, repaired after the earthquake), Palazzo del Senato (13th-15th century), Palazzo del Governo (14th century).
The economy of the town is based on the services sector and on a busy industrial sector: shipyards, engineering, metallurgical, chemical and food manufacturing. Port activities, fishing and tourism are also of note.
Events: Trade Fair (June), International Fishing Exhibition (June), Nautical Exhibition of the Adriatic Sea, Biennal Exhibition of Satirical Cartoons, Wind Instrument Contest (Ancona Prize).
Famous People: Cinzio Benincasa (scholar, 1450-1507), Benvenuto Stracca (lawyer, 1509-1578), Andrea Lilli (artist, 1555-1610), Luigi Albertini (journalist and politician 1871-1941).
Cutural Institutions: State Archives, Diocesan Museum (Sarcophagus of Gorgonio, 4th century), National Museum of the Marches (archeological remains from the Iron Age and objects dating back to Roman times), Podesti Art Gallery (including paintings by Tiziano, Andrea del Sarto, L. Lotto, Guercino), University.
Fabriano - It is situated on the oriental side of the Apennine Umbro-Marchigiano at 325 m. a.s.l., on the Giano torrent, left affluent of the Esino river. Agricultural market, Fabriano is also an important industrial center: the traditional industry of the paper is still active. Even back in the 14thC, Fabriano's paper mills were producing a million sheets of paper a year and it was here that watermarked paper was invented. Its paper is still used the world over for banknotes and quality art paper. So proud is the town of its traditional industry that it has dedicated an interesting modern museum to it - the Museo della Carta. Flourishing moreover industries of food (sausage factories, grinding mills), ceramics, plastic, household-appliances, clothes, furnitures, cement and lateritious.
While the industrial sprawl of the suburbs promises little, it is worth penetrating to the heart of the town to see the opera-set main Piazza del Comune flanked by the Gothic Palazzo del Podestà (1255). Centre-stage is a smaller version of Perugia's famous fountain (the Sturinalto fountain) built at the close of the 13thC. Remarkable the gothic church of Saint Lucia (or Saint Domenico), the churches of Sant' Augustin (13thC - 14thC) and Saint Benedict. The town was the birthplace of Gentile da Fabriano, Italy's greatest master of the late 14thC International Gothic style of painting. You will have to make do, however, with works by his followers, best of whom was Allegretto di Nuzio - you can find his work in the Pinacoteca Civica in tiny Piazza Umberto I behind the main square, and in the Duomo next door. Also in the Duomo are handsome frescoes by Orazio Gentileschi, a 17thC follower of Caravaggio who ended his days as court painter to King Charles I of England.
Jesi - It is situated at 96 m above the sea level in the low valley of the Esino river. The economic activity is based principally on agriculture (cereals, vegetables, grapes), mechanical and food industries (milk and sugar production). Important are also textile and furniture factories. Still alive the traditional goldsmith's art. It probably originates from a colony of Umbrians, but it was the Romans who gave it its name "AESIS". Destroyed a number of times by the Visigoths and the Langobards in 756 it came under the authority of the church with the Benedictines, it was the seat of the County and of the free city-state. The ancient historical village ,which stands on a hill , is made up of small streets and squares enclosed by an imposing city wall of the 4th century, reinforced during the Renaissance and still perfectly conserved today, from which stand out the Montirozzo and Mezzogiorno towers and the gates Porta Valle and Porta Bersaglieri. The historical centre of the Renaissance and of the XVIII century developed along Corso Matteotti, which is crowned off by Arco Clementino. Within the city walls monuments and buildings of notable interest are found, like the "Palazzo della Signoria" of Francesco di Giorgio Martini which today houses the Civic Museum, the library and the Municipal district's archives, the Palazzo Colocci and the Palazzo Ricci of 1543 with a facade that exhibits ashlar work in the form of diamond's points. In the Palazzo Pianetti, the beautiful residence of the nobles, there is the Pinacoteca Comunale (the Municipal Art Gallery) in which are conserved splendid works of art by the Venetian painter Lorenzo Lotto. In 1194, here, the Emperor Frederick II of Swabia was born , who gave Jesi the title "Royal City" and in 1710 the famous musician Giambattista Pergolesi was born after whom the municipal theatre is named, where important concerts, operas and dramas take place. The cathedral is also suggestive, dedicated to St. Settimio the patron saint of the city who has his feast day on the 22nd of September and so is the medieval church of St. Marco, of Benedictine origin later donated to the Franciscans. A bit more ahead there is church of S. Nicol?, one of the oldest monuments in Jesi, dating back to before the year One Thousand and later on rebuilt in Roman-gothic style.
Loreto - It is situated at 127 mt. a.s.l. on a hill with a beautiful panoramic view of the Adriatic sea, and partly encircled with 16th-century walls. Agricultural center (vineyards, olive groves, vegetables, forages). It has silk industries and is a famous place of pilgrimage. It is dominated by the famous Sanctuary of the "Santa Casa" which is among the most important sanctuaries in Italy. According to legend, the house of the Holy Family was miraculously transported by angels in 1294 from Nazareth in Palestine to the countryside of Loreto. Historians, however, refer to the Crusaders as one of the likely explanations for its presence. The Santuario, begun in 1468 by Pope Paul II, is around the Holy House (a small brick building); Bramante contributed to its construction. It has fine bronze doors (16th?17th cent.) and frescoes by Melozzo da Forli and Luca Signorelli. Our Lady of Loreto is a patron of aviators. Piazza della Madonna, the elegant set-piece square with a delicate Baroque fountain (Carlo Maderno, 1614) that fronts the Sanctuary is flanked on two sides by the arcades of the 16thC Palazzo Apostolico. The Museo-Pinacoteca inside preserves a fine group of late works by Lorenzo Lotto (the Venetian master retired and died in the monastery here in 1556) and an unusual collection of Renaissance ceramic pharmacist's jars.
Osimo - At 265 m a.s.l., on a wide sub-apennine hill, between the valleys of the Aspio and the Musone. Agricultural and breeding center, it has mechanical and electromechanical industries like those of musical instruments (accordionists) and record players. Also important are textile factories. The town is compact, warm brick hystoric center rides the crest of a hill above the more modern town below. Most of its best buildings date from the 16th and 17th centuries but signs of its ancient past sometimes show through. For this place was once the Roman town of Auximum. The town hall itself is a fine 17th century building that boasts some interesting canvasses inside. The ancient part conserves Roman walls and the street plan of the old town still retains its Roman layout. The mosaic pavement of the Duomo (Saint Leopardo) is a fine relic of Medieval times; the church, originally built in the 13th century in Romanesque-Gothic style, also has a magnificently atmospheric crypt and an outstanding bronze baptismal font from the early 17th century. The old Romanesque church of San Francesco has been redone inside and out in High Baroque to celebrate its later reincarnation as the Sanctuary dedicated to San Giuseppe da Copertino (1603-1663). It is now an important centre of pilgrimage. San Giuseppe is known as the patron saint of those undergoing exams. Thanks also to his celebrated capacity for levitation, St Joseph of Copertino is also much invoked in the U.S.A as a protector of pilots. His remains are kept in a crystal urn in the modern crypt. In the heart of the old centre look out for Palazzo Gallo, a splendid palace from the 16th century with an epic fresco of the Judgement of Solomon (1609) by the Tuscan painter Pomarancio. A few kilometres south-east of Osimo in the valley of the Musone river, stands the imposing Sanctuary of Campocavallo, a striking piece of early 20th century architecture in Lombard Neo-Gothic style.
Senigallia - The Town of Senigallia is placed along the Adriatic coastline at 6 m. a.s.l. with the river Misa running through it. Its story begins in 2000 B.C., when the Liburnians founded it. Its name is due to the Gauls ( after the Etruscans ), who called their village "Sena" in 400 B.C.; then the Romans, defeating the Gauls in this area in 290 B.C., called the town "Sena Gallica". Center of an ancient fair, considered in the 15thC the greater manifestation of this type in Europe. Prosperous above all in the 18thC. (after the concession, in the 17thC, of the free port), and whose memory is still alive in Italy. After the 2nd World War there was a new development of economic and productive activities and an increase in the tourist activity. It is important agricultural-commercial and industrial center (canned food-stuffs, furnitures, clothes, electronics, metallurgy, building materials, shipyards, etc.); it's also a fishing port. Nowadays Senigallia owes its charm to an unpolluted sea-water (Blue flag of Europe) and soft velvety beach that extends over 10 km. The charm of the beach goes with that of the monuments and the works of art situated in a very old historical centre that is very close to it: something which is quite unusual but for only a very few seaside resorts of the Adriatic coast. From the beach, it is possible to reach, by a short walk, the historical centre over which towers the majestic Rocca Roveresca (Della Rovere's Fortress). The structure of the fortress, perfectly kept through time, goes back to 1480 and was built up on the drowning of Baccio Pontelli. It is a classical example of the military architecture of the Renaissance, with a square structure having four embattled towers on each corner. Inside are the ruins of previous Roman fortification built to protect the port. Opposite the Rocca Roveresca, one can see "Piazza del Duca" (square of the Duke) with the Lion's Fountain and the Palace of the Duke. On the right side of the square stands a splendid building the "Palazzetto Baviera". Along the river Misa, one can admire the magnificent Portici Ercolani (Ercolani's Arcades) built up in the second part of the XVIIth century with big blocks of white stone coming from Istria and erected to house the Fair. The Foro Annonario is a testimoniance of the Marches neo-Classicism, built in 1837, on a draw of the architect Pietro Ghinelli from Senigallia, planner of theatres, decided to build this handwork, important for the aesthetics and on the proportion for the food market of the city and its infrastructure: under the arcade a sequence of shops most of them are meat shops, at the centre of it there is the big fish-market. Recently restructureted is a beautiful place, almost as a theatre's space. Others importan monuments are: the Church of the Cross (built up at the beginning of the XVIIth century with a rectangular inside and an inlaid lacunar ceiling), the Cathedral, Lambertina gates (in honour of Benedict XIV on the project by the architet Rossi and Cardinal Ercolani), Mastai Palace where Pope Pio IX was born and Church of the Grazie (erected by order of the Duke Giovanni Della Rovere). Inside it, behind the high altar is kept the Madonna in Trono e Santi (Madonna on the Trone and Saints) a famous painting by Perugino.
