The writer Guido Piovene has judged the Marches the most typical of Italian landscapes calling it “filtered land, civil, indeed the most classic of our lands”.
In such a scenario come together extremely varied artistic excellence, expression of a cultural pluralism settled for centuries, which is located in the fractionated historical development of the region. And being a region “more than the sum Summary” of experience and sediments of various kinds, origin and influence, helps to make the Marche one of the richest cultural heritage of Italian regions.
500 squares, more than 1,000 significant monuments, hundreds of cities, 37 fortresses, 106 castles, 15 fortresses, 170 towers, thousands of churches of which 200 Romanesque, 96 well preserved abbeys, 183 sanctuaries, 34 archaeological sites, as well 70 historic theaters, expertly restored, in business. The higher density, in Italy, museums and art galleries: 344 out of 239 municipalities.
315 libraries that hold more than 4 million volumes, some of ancient tradition and guardians of a precious heritage of sixteenth and manuscripts. Among the many worth mentioning the Hermitage library of Fonte Avellana (PU) and the Leopardi family in Recanati (MC). treasure chests of the cultural spread are the numerous art cities. In the province of Pesaro-Urbino, going from the coast to the interior, we find centers that are still breathing today of Renaissance splendor, linked to the presence in the territory of some of the most important Lordships d ‘Italy: the Malatesta, the Montefeltro and Della Rovere . Pesaro, the Pisaurum the Romans, already inhabited by the Piceni, was the seat of the Della Rovere Lordship until 1631, the year of devolution of the entire Duchy to the Papal State. The Palazzo Ducale, the Rocca Costanza and the treasures in the museums evoke in a complete way the stately size and the court reached the city, which is embodied perfectly in the Ducal Palace in Urbino by Federico da Montefeltro. Trained in his youth educated in the Gonzaga court in Mantua, Federico managed to change the natural and urban physiognomy of a city, “and plotted it” forever with the Doge’s Palace, opened, with fairytale “turrets”, towards the road that leads to Urbino Urbania and from here in Umbria and Tuscany. Since 1912, the Palazzo Ducale houses the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, which preserves masterpieces of art of all time, with works by Raphael, Piero della Francesca, Titian, Paolo Uccello, etc.
The Palace ideally connects to other buildings born of Duke’s initiative as the mausoleum of the Dukes of San Bernardino and the Convent of St. Clare, designed and – in the case of the palace of Frederick – completed by Francesco di Giorgio Martini. Upon the recommendation of the Duke, the Sienese artist arranged to accommodate even the Ducal Palace of Urbania (the ancient Casteldurante of majolica), thought the original structure of the Barco Ducale, residence of the Dukes hunting,
and he stamped his genius in the Palazzo della Ragione, now the Town Hall durantino. Francesco di Giorgio Martini also studded the fairytale Duchy of defensive order fortresses, coffers intact historical facts and memories: a Mondavio the mighty fortress, surrounded by ancient walls which is home to the Museum of Historical Re-enactment and Armoury; Cagli the mighty fortress of which only the majestic elliptical tower and the secret underground passage, now home to a Contemporary Sculpture Center; Sassocorvaro, the fortress where Ubaldinesca 10,000 masterpieces were kept and saved during the Second World War and which now houses the new museum dedicated to the works of art in danger, the so-called “Ark of Art.”
A short distance from the many Martini’s fortresses stands the great fortress of Gradara, built by Griffo and remodeled by the Malatesta and the Sforza, rich with Renaissance frescoes and memories of love Paolo and Francesca by Dante. In these places you can still enjoy the medieval atmosphere while walking in the village, or along the walls, with towers and torrioncini square bristling with battlements.
Another witness to the power of the Malatesta family, in the Marche region, is the eponymous palace, located in the center of Fano Piazza XX Settembre, where he lived until 1463. This city preserves
still many traces of Roman origins, as the great Arch of Augustus, brings the famous and ancient Via Flaminia. Worth noting is the Palazzo della Ragione, the Malatesta Court, the church of San Paterniano and the Basilica Cathedral.
Senigallia, in the province of Ancona, once part of the Duchy of Urbino as evidenced by the majestic fortress Rovere in which you can still visit a Roman watchtower.
To see the Palazzetto Baviera, the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie and the Palazzo Mastai Ferretti, the Museum dedicated to Pope Pius IX who was born in this city.
- Ascoli Piceno (AP) - Piazza del Popolo Ascoli Piceno (AP) - Piazza del Popolo
- Ascoli Piceno (AP) - Campanili nel centro storico Ascoli Piceno (AP) - Campanili nel centro storico
- Camerino (MC) - Palazzo Ducale Camerino (MC) - Palazzo Ducale
- Civitanova Alta (MC) - Porta Marina Civitanova Alta (MC) - Porta Marina
- Falerone (FM) - Scavi archeologici Falerone (FM) - Scavi archeologici
- Fano (AN) - L'Arco di Augusto Fano (AN) - L'Arco di Augusto
- Fermo (FM) - centro storico Fermo (FM) - centro storico
- Gradara (PU) - Castello Gradara (PU) - Castello
- Loreto (AN) - Basilica di Santa Maria di Loreto Loreto (AN) - Basilica di Santa Maria di Loreto
- Macerata (MC) - Sferisterio Macerata (MC) - Sferisterio
- Matelica (MC) - centro storico Matelica (MC) - centro storico
- Recanati (MC) - Biblioteca storica di Giacomo Leopardi Recanati (MC) - Biblioteca storica di Giacomo Leopardi
- Ripatransone (AP) - centro storico Ripatransone (AP) - centro storico
- Sarnano (MC) - centro storico Sarnano (MC) - centro storico
- Urbania (PU) - Il Parco Ducale o Barco, residenza dei Montefeltro Urbania (PU) - Il Parco Ducale o Barco, residenza dei Montefeltro
- Urbino (PU) – Palazzo Ducale Urbino (PU) – Palazzo Ducale
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Ancona, the capital of the Marches, was founded by Syracuse in the fourth century. to. C. Center of commercial, tourist and military activities, has always linked its existence to the port, the biggest in the Adriatic Sea
only in Venice. There you can admire one of the most beautiful Romanesque monuments of central Italy, the Cathedral of San Ciriaco and some fine buildings such as the Loggia dei Mercanti, the Church of S. Francesco, the Civic Art Gallery, signs of the importance of historical and cultural coated by Dorian city especially between the ‘400 and’ 500. A few kilometers from Ancona, we find Loreto, with the largest Marian shrine in Italy, visited by millions of pilgrims from around the world. The city is linked to the Holy House of Nazareth that the legend brought by angels in flight, to save it from the invasion of Palestine by the Mohammedans in 1294. In the Sanctuary have worked some of the greatest artists of the ‘400 and’ 500: Melozzo da Forlì, Luca Signorelli, Bramante, Sansovino and Lorenzo Lotto.
To visit the Pinacoteca Museum of the Holy House with great value and works of ancient weapons museum. Nearby is Recanati, the “village” that lives in the worship of one of the greatest Italian poets, Giacomo Leopardi, and that calls for a route between the places dear to him: the square and the monument dedicated to him, the memories preserved in the Town Hall (with Beniamino Gigli Museum), Leopardi Benedettucci section of the Library, the gaming arena at the foot of the walls where the poet composed the ode “to a victor in the game of football”, the bell tower of the church of Sant ‘Augustine which is the famous Tower of the thrush, the oratory of the Nobles attached to St. Vitus church where Leopardi youth talked about religion. But above all his most vivid memories are around the quiet square of the Village Saturday with Leopardi Palace, birthplace of the poet, and the adjacent National Centre of Leopardi Studies, with the church of Santa Maria di Monte Morello, where he was baptized, and the humble house of Silvia, the daughter of the driver, sung in a famous romance.
The itinerary concludes climbing the Hill of Infinity where he carved the first verse of the famous song: “I was always fond quest ‘lonely hill.” Worth visiting the town of Osimo, the Roman Auximum, rich in ancient remains such as the thirteen Roman statues of the imperial era preserved in the Town Hall, the Cathedral and the Shrine dedicated to St. Joseph of Cupertino, the destination of many pilgrimages; Offagna, which is dominated by the scenic Rocca, square-shaped with towers and an imposing tower; Corinaldo, boasting a wall among the most spectacular of the region and a historic center of great environmental value. The walls, built partly in 1366 and partly in 1489/90, are still fitted with doors, defense towers and bastions. And ‘possible to see the whole development of 912 m, following the ring road and retracing sections of the ancient battlements. To visit the eighteenth-century Shrine of St. Maria Goretti and dell ‘Addolorata church which encloses the crypt (1947) dedicated to the young martyr. Sassoferrato originates from Sentinum Roman, of which were remains of buildings, cobbled streets and walls. It consists of two cores, the modern “Borgo” and, high on the hill, the Castle, dominated by the ruins of the fortress, built in 1368 by Cardinal Albornoz, papal legate. In the ancient core, rich in monuments, museums and works of art, are to visit the church of San Francesco, the Palazzo Montanari, the Palazzo dei Priori and the fifteenth-century Palazzo Oliva which houses the municipal library, containing over 10,000 volumes , ancient incunabula, sixteenth and manuscripts.
In the hinterland of Ancona opens the Esino valley, dominated by Jesi. The Roman Aesis, which was the birthplace of Frederick II of Swabia and the musician G. Battista Pergolesi, owns a valuable art gallery where you can admire one of the masterpieces of Lorenzo Lotto, the Altarpiece of St. Lucia. The town is surrounded by ancient walls, whose route is substantially intact. medieval quarters, aristocratic buildings and splendid churches characterize a harmonious and well-preserved historical center. Here Francesco di Giorgio Martini built the largest civic monument that is the Palazzo della Signoria.
Up the valley you reach Fabriano, known since the thirteenth century, around the world, for the processing of paper. Ring of relations between Marche and Umbria, Fabriano has preserved its medieval aspect, modeled around the Piazza del Podesta and documented by duetrecenteschi paintings found in the Art Gallery. From the city, which gave birth to the most distinguished and refined exponent of the International Gothic, Gentile da Fabriano, Camerino is easy to reach in the province of Macerata, under the Da Varano, in ‘400 was the protagonist of an intense economic prosperity and artistic, marked by the emergence of a school of painting, considered by the historian Federico Zeri one of the most important of the Italian Renaissance. Equipped with one of the oldest universities and famous in Europe, with headquarters in the Palazzo Ducale, the city has retained its medieval appearance and defense of the surrounding territory, outlined several times from the pen of the greatest Italian playwright Luigi Pirandello after the camerte Ugo Betti.
Camerino can be reached Tolentino, where stands one of the most famous shrines of central Italy, the Basilica di San Nicola, whose Chapel, attributed to Pietro da Rimini, is the greatest example of Giotto-Rimini school. Also interesting is the Vaccaj Theatre, opened in the late eighteenth century, and the International Museum of Caricature.
In the area between the towns of Tolentino and Urbisaglia are one of the most important abbeys of the Marches, the Cistercian S. Mary of Clairvaux Fiastra, built in 1142 with stones taken from the ancient Roman city of Urbs Salvia, and the Castle of rance. San Severino Marche, born near the Roman Septempeda of which there are remains in ‘archeological area, it became one of the’ 300 and ‘400, one of the European centers of the International Gothic, thanks to the Lordship of Smeducci and the work of the Salimbeni brothers, Active , as well as in his native town, also in Urbino.
Matelica deserves a visit, interesting city of art with the sixteenth-century octagonal fountain, the various churches, monumental buildings and the art collections of the Museum Piersanti, with the splendid collection of tapestries of the ‘500 and’ 700 and the designs of the XVI – XVII century. Macerata, founded in the hills to escape the incursions of the barbarians in the Roman center of Helvia ricin, provides a wide selection of Renaissance art, Baroque and Neoclassical. Among its most representative monuments Sferisterio Aleandri of Irenaeus, a wonderful example of neoclassical architecture among the most significant in Italy, home of an important annual Summer season Lirica. The Basilica of Our Lady of Mercy, Freedom Square with the Loggia dei Mercanti and the Clock Tower, numerous museums, the rich Gallery of Modern Art in Palazzo Ricci, the Library with 350,000 volumes and ancient
University make Macerata a cultural reference point. Also visit the medieval village of Sarnano, famous for the “red brick” of the roofs of the houses, the narrow streets and steep stairways in part, that
culminate in a quiet square, the Municipal Art Gallery which houses important works, the spa and ski resort.
Do not miss the old town of Civitanova Alta, still surrounded largely by the castle walls of the XV sec., With towers, bastions and two gates, the Ducal Palace of the Cesarini, the home of Annibale Caro and the Civic Gallery of Modern Art “M. Moretti “; Monte San Giusto, where you can admire the Church of Santa Maria in Telusiano, the Crucifixion, a masterpiece by Lorenzo Lotto. In Bonafede Palace houses the collection of ancient drawings “More.”
Still, one of the most flourishing centers in the Marches of the Roman and medieval, is the seat of the new province. The monumental Roman cisterns; the splendid Piazza del Popolo, flanked by porticos built in 1569 in the major sides. The sixteenth century Palazzo dei Priori, whose internal rooms house the Civic Art Gallery which boasts important paintings of the Venetian school, Marche and a valuable painting by Rubens; the Palazzo degli Studi with a rich library of over 400,000 volumes, sixteenth and manuscripts; the many museums of natural and archaeological type, still testify today an amazing historical and cultural fabric, settled in every corner of the town.
Worth a stop Montefortino which still preserves historic atmosphere, with narrow streets, stone houses and brick and the Pinacoteca, full of paintings, heritage of the painter Fortunato Duranti collection; Loving, formed in 1248 by the merger of three places castles on three elevations of the same hill (Leone, Marrubbione, Agello), it has a beautiful old town, with the church of Sant’Agostino, or Sanctuary of the Blessed Antonio,
the church of St. Francis and the Municipal Palace, which houses the Municipal Archive (packed with more than 1,000 parchments of the sec. XI and other medieval documents) and the notarial archives, with valuable codes. In the surroundings of Amandola it is one of the most interesting abbeys Marche, one of the Saints Ruffino and Vitale, Falerone while you can visit the remains of the ancient Roman city of Faleria with the recently restored theater. Do not miss Sant’Elpidio a Mare, almost entirely enclosed by medieval walls, with its fourteenth century Gerosolimitana Tower, built by the Knights of Malta, the Collegiate Church (which has paintings by Nicola Monti, Palma Giovane, Pomarancio, etc.) And municipal building which houses two valuable works of art: an altarpiece by 14 panels of Carlo Crivelli and a triptych by Garofalo.
The provincial capital of Ascoli Piceno testifies, in Roman monuments (the remains of the Theatre and the Augustan Bridge) and in medieval excellence (the church of St. Francis, the Duomo and the Baptistry) an extraordinary past marked by the warm color of the travertine and the Via Salaria, of which few traces remain, often embedded in medieval buildings. From the famous Piazza del Popolo, where every year one of the most extraordinary historical re-enactments of Italy, the famous Quintana, radiate picturesque routes, including medieval streets and Renaissance palaces, often touched, such as the facade of the Duomo, by the hand of Cola ‘Amateur.
To visit also the characteristic of Acquaviva centers, dominated by the imposing fortress with remains of castle walls, old houses and towers; Ripatransone, a small jewel from the charming old town with lots of Italian narrowest alley (43 cm wide), rich in archaeological artifacts and monuments such as the Cathedral and the Palazzo del Podesta; Offida, the walls intact, still retaining the fortress and the majestic Abbey S. Maria della Rocca, one of the most important Romanesque-Gothic monuments of the Marches; Arquata del Tronto, in a panoramic position, it was in Roman times an important “statio” on the Via Salaria. The Borgolo name is due to the imposing thirteenth-century fortress ( “arx”) that crowns the hill, rebuilt according to tradition by Giovanna II of Naples and restored in recent times. Arquata is the only municipality of Europe that lies in two
national parks of Monti Sibillini and Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga.