What to see in Fabriano, itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest, including the Paper and Watermark Museum, Piazza Alta and Palazzo del Podestà.
Tourist information
Town of the Marche in the province of Ancona, at 325 meters above sea level, Fabriano is located in a wide valley located on the Adriatic side of the Umbrian-Marches Apennines.
The first human settlements in the area date back to prehistoric times, later there were civilizations such as that of the Piceni, Umbri, Galli and Romans, who founded the ancient Municipalities of Tuficum and Attidium.
Following the barbarian invasions and the destruction of Tuficum and Attidium, the population first took refuge on the hill of Castelvecchio, Castrum Vetus, where today the Monastery of Santa Caterina stands, later, gradually, it expanded towards the neighbor hill called Poggio or Castel Novum, where today the Monastery of Santa Margherita is located, forming the first nucleus of the city, located along the right bank of the river Giano, originally called Castellano.
From the union of the two castles, Castrum Vetus and Castrum novum, the new village was born, with a first Latin cross road axis, Piazza Alta for the meetings of the people and Piazza Bassa for craft and commercial activities.
Became free municipality in the twelfth century, from 1378 to 1435 the village was subjected to the lordship of the Chiavelli, a period in which there was a considerable development, while, starting from the sixteenth century it became property of the Church.
The art of paper making, which made the city famous, was introduced to Fabriano during the first half of the thirteenth century and developed considerably, through trade with Italy and Europe, especially between the fourteenth and the fifteenth century, with new impetus in the eighteenth.
Fabriano is currently renowned above all for the production of hand-made papers, the production process of which can be witnessed by visiting the Museum of Paper and Watermark, housed inside the ancient Convent of the Dominican Fathers.
Piazza del Comune or Piazza Alta is the city center, located in the place where a stream once flowed which, after crossing the square, flowed into the river Giano.
On the square stands the Sturinalto Fountain, so called in reference to the spout placed on its top, through which the water is pushed upwards.
The project was entrusted to Jacopo di Grondalo in 1285, who took inspiration from the main fountain of Perugia built a few years earlier by the brothers Nicola and Giovanni Pisano.
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The fountain was remodeled in 1351.
Among the buildings overlooking the square, the Palazzo del Podestà stands out, in white stone from Vallemontagnana.
The building, divided into three buildings and dating back to 1255, is one of the most prestigious examples of Gothic style in the Marche region.
It rises above a bold pointed arch, in whose internal vault there are remains of frescoes dating back to 1325.
This particular type of bridge reminds you that a stream called Rivo passed underneath, which was then filled and transformed into the main road of the ancient village of Fabriano.
In the same square stands the Palazzo dei Chiavelli, better known as Palazzo del Comune and dating back to the fourteenth century.
After the interventions carried out in 1690, only the entrance hall with cross vaults remains and, in the courtyard, the lapidarium with epigraphs and memorial stones from the ancient Roman municipalities of Attidium (Attigio), Tuficum (Albacina) and Sentinum (Sassoferrato) .
What see
The beautiful Loggiato di San Francesco, with the 19 arches that follow one another on the steep square, is a seventeenth-century reconstruction of a fifteenth-century portico, which extended close to the Church of San Francesco, demolished in 1864 to make room for the town hall, of which they remain the remains of the elegant portal and a fresco.
The Oratory of Charity, now home to conferences and cultural events, dates back to 1587.
Inside you can admire the frescoes and the altarpiece of the Mannerist painter from Urbino Filippo Bellini, also interesting is the Gothic stone portal, from the former monastery of Sant'Antonio outside the walls.
The Bishop's Palace was rebuilt between 1546 and 1549 following the destruction caused by the collapse of the civic tower.
The building, enlarged in height in the eighteenth century, has a porticoed facade with the Clock tower on the side.
Unfortunately of the original arrangement of the nearby Piazza Garibaldi, also called Piazza del Mercato or Piazza Bassa and once characterized by arcades and shops, only a stretch of arcades remains, the portico of the Vasari, residue of the ancient hospital of the art of shoemakers who stood on the square.
In the upper part of the city there is the Cathedral dedicated to San Venanzio founded in the early Middle Ages and enlarged in the second half of the fourteenth century.
The Duomo was rebuilt between 1607 and 1617 by the architect Muzio Oddi, with stucco decorations made by Francesco Selva.
Of the fourteenth-century construction, the polygonal apse, the cloister and the frescoed chapel of San Lorenzo remain, while inside there are significant mannerist and baroque paintings.
Opposite the Cathedral stands the complex of the former Hospital of Santa Maria del Buon Gesù, built in 1456 by San Giacomo della Marca, to combine the various welfare activities of the city.
The building, an elegant example of late Gothic architecture, houses the Pinacoteca Civica Bruno Molajoli, which houses a collection of works of the highest value, concerning medieval art up to the Renaissance, the post-Renaissance period, Mannerism and works from the sixteenth centuries , seventeenth and nineteenth.
The Bicycle Craft Museum, located in via Gioberti, consists of an exhibition dedicated to vintage bicycles used to carry out ancient crafts, in the period from the late 1920s to the early 1960s.
The bicycles come from all regions of Italy and reveal an insight into our history.
In Corso della Repubblica you can visit the ancient Mazzolini-Giuseppucci pharmacy, dating back to 1896, where you can admire the splendid wooden furnishings carved by the Perugian artist Adolfo Ricci and the collection of the ancient pharmacy jars of the Florentine manufacture Ginori.
A few kilometers from the center of Fabriano there is the archaeological area of the ancient Roman municipality of Attidium, which stood at the current hamlet of Attiggio.
About 13 kilometers from Fabriano, in the municipality of Genga, the Frasassi Caves are very interesting, a spectacular complex of underground karst caves, within the Regional Natural Park of the Gola della Rossa and Frasassi.
