What to see in Pesaro, itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest, including Rocca Costanza, Madonna delle Grazie Church, Doge's Palace and Rossini's House.
Tourist information
Located along the northern coast of the Marche, in the Riviera of the hills, Pesaro is a city of ancient origins, dating back to the second century BC, when it was a Roman colony with the name of Pisaurum.
Later it experienced troubled periods, characterized by barbaric, Byzantine and papal dominations, before becoming a free municipality in the twelfth century.
In 1300 it was dominated by the Malatesta family, then it passed first to Alessandro Sforza and then to the della Rovere, who were dukes of Urbino and established their residence there.
The visit can be started from Viale Don Minzoni, where the Rocca Costanza is located, which is a military building with a square plan and dating back to the second half of the fifteenth century, now used as a prison.
Continuing downhill towards Piazzale Matteotti, after taking via San Francesco turning right, you arrive at the thirteenth-century Church of Madonna della Grazie, characterized by a remarkable fourteenth-century portal and an eighteenth-century interior in Baroque style, where the image is preserved of the sixteenth-century Madonna della Grazie, located behind the main altar.
The Palazzo Ducale, located in Piazza del Popolo, is the most important monument in the city.
Built on behalf of Alessandro Sforza in the 1400s, this building has a remarkable facade, including an arcade supported by five elegantly decorated windows and a portal that leads into the sixteenth century courtyard of honor.
Inside, the waiting room is very interesting, which contains a fireplace from the 1500s where a bas-relief stands out, and the Metaurenze Hall, characterized by a magnificent coffered ceiling.
In Via Branca there is the Church of San Domenico, built between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, characterized by a splendid Gothic portal.
What see
The eighteenth-century Palazzo Mosca and the birthplace of Gioacchino Rossini, home to a museum dedicated to the musician, are located in Via Rossini.
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In Piazza Toschi-Mosca there is the Pinacoteca and the Ceramics Museum.
Among the major works preserved in the Pinacoteca are the Pesaro altarpiece of 1473, made by Giovanni Bellini and depicting the Coronation of the Virgin placed between Saints Paul, Peter, Jerome and Francis, and the Fall of the Giants by Guido Reni.
The Ceramics Museum houses Renaissance objects made by the most famous ceramic factories that arose in Pesaro between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries.
Returning to Via Rossini you will find the Cathedral with Romanesque-Gothic facade, continuing towards Piazza del Popolo and turning right on Corso XX Settembre, you will reach the Church of Sant'Agostino, rebuilt in the eighteenth century but with a remarkable fifteenth century portal.
Very interesting inside there is a choir made of wood from the 1400s and a sculpture by Brandani, reproducing Christ on the Cross with the Magdalene.
Not far away, in Via Petrucci, there is the Church of the Name of God, while in Via Mazza there is the Museo Oliveriani library, which collects very particular archaeological material, including cemetery glass from the early Christian era and a bilingual Etruscan-Latin inscription, dating back to the era of Emperor Augustus.
In Via Passeri is located the Church of San Giovanni Battista, dating back to the sixteenth century, with an unfinished but very particular facade and a Renaissance interior that preserves a remarkable wooden Crucifix made in the seventeenth century by Innocenzo da Petralia.
In the Piazzale della Libertà there are a modern sculpture by Pomodoro and the Ruggeri house, an excellent example of liberty style.
