What to see in Cingoli, itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest of what is considered the Balcony of the Marches, including the Town Hall, the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta and the Collegiate Church of Sant’Esuperanzio.
Tourist information
A town of the Marche region in the province of Macerata, Cingoli stands on the top of Monte Circe, at 631 meters above sea level and in a splendid panoramic position over the Marche region, so much so as to be called the Balcony of the Marches.
In fact, the view that can be enjoyed from the village ranges from Monte Conero and the coast of the Adriatic Sea, up to the Umbrian-Marche Apennine mountains dominated by Monte San Vicino.
The hill on which Cingoli stands, inhabited since the Copper Age, was occupied in the ninth century BC. from Picene populations, before the foundation of the Roman city of Cingulum, dating back to the third century BC, in the place where Borgo San Lorenzo is located today, located on a shelf located at a slightly lower altitude than the current historic center.
In Cingoli was born Tito Labieno, lieutenant of Caesar in Gaul, who in 60 BC he had the city restored and fortified.
In the eighteenth century, Cingoli gave birth to Francesco Saverio Maria Felice Castiglioni, of a noble Cingolan family, elected pope on March 31, 1829 with the name of Pius VIII.
What see
The village surrounded by walls offers very suggestive views, starting from Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, where the Town Hall and the Duomo overlook.
The Town Hall, dating back to the twelfth century and modified in the sixteenth century in the Renaissance style, houses the State Archaeological Museum, where prehistoric and Roman remains found in the surrounding area are preserved.
The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, inaugurated in 1654, contains works by local artists inside.
To the right of the Cathedral, walking along via Foltrani, you will find the church of San Domenico, characterized by an unfinished facade, which preserves inside the famous canvas, dated 1539, of the Madonna del Rosario e Santi, a masterpiece of the Venetian painter Lorenzo Lotto .
To see the canvas you need to contact the Municipal Art Gallery named after the Cingolan painter Donatello Stefanucci, born in 1896 and died in 1987.
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In the Pinacoteca, which together with the Municipal Library is housed in the building of the former Episcopal Seminary of via Mazzini, medieval and modern works are exhibited, including paintings, coats of arms, ceramics and majolica, from the Cingolan territory, with a contemporary section largely concerning part paintings by Donatello Stefanucci.
In Corso Garibaldi, the main street of the town, stands the seventeenth-century Castiglioni palace, in which Francesco Saverio Castiglioni, the future Pope Pius VIII, was born in 1761.
The palace, where the furnishings and personal objects of Pope Pius VIII are kept, stands out in particular for a wonderful music room, with a finely decorated ceiling and formed by 9 wooden domes, made with the aim of improving acoustics .
Inside the city, the Church of San Filippo Neri is characterized by external structures in mixed Romanesque and Renaissance style, with a stone facade embellished with a remarkable Romanesque portal, while in the Baroque interior, where an interesting frescoed and decorated ceiling stands out of stucco, valuable paintings are preserved.
Collegiate Sant’Esuperanzio
Just outside the town is the Collegiate Church of Sant'Esuperanzio, which is the most important religious building in Cingoli, founded in the twelfth century and made of sandstone, characterized by a gabled facade with rose window and Romanesque portal with carved lunette .
Inside, full of charm, you can see the raised presbytery, an architectural device made towards the end of the seventeenth century to give space to the crypt below where the relics of the Saint are kept.
