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Province
The province of Macerata embraces the valleys of the Power and the Chienti
and extends from the Appennines, to the west, to the adriatic coast to
east; 2.774 km²; 298.295 inhabitants (108 for km²), distributed in
57 municipalities. The western mountaineous part, includes a section
of the adriatic slope of the Apennine Umbro-Marchigiano (mount Pennino,
1.570 m), with a section of the Sibillini mounts (mount Bove, 2.113 m).
The fluvial valleys come down towards the sea separated by cross-sectional
spurs; the main centers rise on these hills, in dominant position ("balconies").
The sea coast is characterized by the new seaside resorts founded in correspondence
of the inner ancient historical centers. Overcoming the sharecopper conduction,
agriculture is now modern and lands are subjected to a more rational exploitation.
The main productions are cereals, sugar beets, grape, vegetables. Important
it is the development of the industrial sector: mechanical, transformation
of the agricultural products and building enterprises are the main activities.
The tertiary has shown a rapid expansion of the commercial and transportation
activities principally related to touristic seaside resorts (Porto Recanati,
Porto Potenza Picena, Civitanova Marche), hydro-thermal resorts (Tolentino,
Sarnano, Penna San Giovanni) and mountain villages (Castelsantangelo sul
Nera). Main centers are Civitanova Marche, Recanati, Tolentino, San Severino
Marche, Cingoli, Camerino, Corridonia, Potenza Picena and Matelica.
Municipalities
Macerata - The
town is situated in a dominating position at 314 m. above sea level on
the ridges between the parallel Potenza and Chienti river valleys; about
30 km. from the Adriatic coast. It
was probably founded in the 5th century AD. after the nearby Roman town
of Helvia Ricina had been destroyed. It became a free municipality in
1138 and was the scene of struggles between Emperors and Popes. In the
second half of the 13th century it became part of the papal dominions,
though retaining some autonomy, due to the presence of various overlords
(Mulucci, Varano da Camerino, Sforza). Macerata shared the vicissitudes
of the Papal States until it was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy in 1860.
The ancient area of the town is still partly
surrounded by walls (14th-15th century) and has an interesting
urban structure planned to harmonize with the hilly ground. There are
countless 16th-18th century noble buildings. The modern town spreads over
the surrounding hills. The monuments include: Loggia dei Mercanti
(16th century), Palazzo del Governo (16th century), Town Hall
(17th century with 18th century additions), Palazzo del Comune
(18th century), Sanctuary of the Madonna della Misericordia (17th-18th
century), Spheristerion (18th century, a ball-court). Six kilometres
from the town lie the ruins of Helvia Ricina, which can be visited.
Of the XVI-XVII centurues are alse some remarkable palaces:
Ferri, Mozzi, Carradori, Lazzarini, Consalvi, last two attributed
to the Tibaldi. The town's economy is still based on agricultural products
(cereals, vegetables, fruit), traded in Macerata, together with livestock
resources (cattle, pigs). Banking and transport are fairly well developed
while industry is active in the building, engineering, food manufacturing
and furniture sectors.
Events: Remarkable the cultural and folkloristic manifestations.
Summer opera season at the Spheristerion, exhibitions of international
renown.
Famous People: Matteo Ricci (missionary and sinologist, 1552-1610),
Giovanni Maria Crescimbeni (scholar, 1663-1728), Lauro Rossi (musician,
1810-1885)
Cultural Institutions: University, L. Rossi Municipal Theatre, State Archives,
Civic Library, Civic Museum and Art Gallery.
Camerino - Placed
on a spur on the Appennines at 670 metres a.s.l. Camerino achieves its
period of greatest splendour under the rule of the Da Varano family. From
the top of its rock it dominates the large valleys of the rivers Chienti
and Potenza underneath, occuppied by towers and fortresses. But if the
town might look austere, the countryside, instead, is colourful. At its
foot stretches a wide green valley enclosed by clevages rising to form
a circle of mountains. It is an ancient town, first tied to the city of
Rome by an "aequo fodere", an alliance between equals, then turned into
a Free City and remained a Dukedom for a long time. It was famous as a
centre of learning, a tradition which the town mantains today with its
university, its theatre, its libraries, despite its being only a small
provincial town. Its centro storico , or old centre, has seen little change
over the last few centuries, leaving it a particularly attractive sight.
Most of Camerino was built during the enlightened rule of the Da Varano
family (Giulio Cesare da Varano) between the 14th and 16th centuries when
its court drew artists and scholars from across Italy. The narrow main
street takes you from the town's fortress to the principal square, Piazza
Cavour, around which stand the Cathedral, the Archbishop's
Palace and the Ducal Palace, now the University. Over it all
watches a fine statue of Pope Sixtus V dating from 1587. The porticoed
courtyard of the Ducal Palace is partly attributed to the great 15thC
architect Baccio Pontelli. From it leads a splendid balcony with great
views of the Sibillini Mountains. The grand architectural complex of San
Domenico, built between the 13th and 16th centuries, has been restored
and now houses a choice collection of works from the Camerino School of
painting. Another of Camerino's gems is the Teatro Marchetti off
the courtyard in the Palazzo Comunale. Built in 1856, it has recently
been restored and put back into use. Economy
is based on agricultural cultivations and cattle breeding and secondary
on industrial activities in the alimentary, textile and building sectors;
very important is also the tourism.
Cingoli
- It is found at 631 m a.s.l., between the valleys of the Musone and the
Power. Vineyards, olive groves, oenological and oil factories, breeding,
industrial activities for production of clothes and agricultural machines
constitute the economy of this town. Famous holiday resort, the place
has also earned the title "the Balcony of the Marche" for its sweeping
panoramas - the best views are from behind the church of San Francesco.
Remarkable the Municipal Palace (town hall) of the XIII cent. with
a much earlier clock tower, the cathedral (XVII cent.), the church of
Saint Domenico, with a collections of paintings by Lorenzo Lotto
like Madonna of the Rosary, and the Romanesque church of Sant'
Esuperanzio, with fresco of several ages. Behind the town hall is
hushed Via del Podesta', Cingoli's most atmospheric street. Cingoli's
brief moment of glory came with the one-year papacy of its son, Pius VIII.
Civitanova
Marche - Situated at 155 m a.s.l.. to north of the mouth of the
Chienti. It is formed by the fractions of PortoCivitanova, communal center,
and Civitanova Alta. Important fishing center and seaside resort, with
shipyards. Country of the shoe industry and of all the commercial activities,
provided with many company stores, where it is possible to buy shoes at
the manufacturer's price (national exhibition of the footwear, in July).
Agriculture supplies vegetables and fruits. The town itself centres around
wide Piazza XX Settembre and offers plenty of stylish window-shopping
and green public gardens. About 4 kms inland from the town stands the
Medieval hilltop borgo of Civitanova Alta, still partly enclosed
by its old walls and well worth a stroll. Amongst the fine ancient palaces
and churches is an unusually good modern Italian art collection in the
civic Modern ARt Gallery. One of the Marche's earliest and most
charming churches, Santa Maria a Pič di Chienti, lies 6km inland.
This beautifully preserved Romanesque construction was built in the 9th
Century. To the north of Civitanova Marche is Porto Potenza Picena a place
to go for a day on a sandy beach if you're staying inland nearby.
Matelica
- Situatued in the Umbro-Marchigiano Apennine, at 354 m a.s.l., on a hill
to the right of the Esino river. Cereals and wine (verdicchio of Matelica,
one of the best wine in the Marche) production and cattle breeding are
the most important agricultural activities, while shoe, clothes and leather
manufactures togheter with mechanical factories are the industial activities.
It's also an holiday resort. It conserves the medieval urban-planning
structure, with remains of walls, numerous palaces and reinassance churches:
the Loggia of the Ottoni family, built by the town's ruling family
in 1511 and the 13thC Palazzo Pretorio, topped by an 18thC tower.
In one of the side-chapels of the church of the Suffragio, there's
the Salvator Rosa's tortured painting of the Crucifixion and souls in
purgatory. Also worthy of note are the cathedral, with 15thC bell tower,
in Corso Vittorio Emanuele, the church of the Maddalena, with its
Romanesque portal and facade and the churches of Sant' Augustin
(XIV cent.).
Monte San Giusto,
until 1863 San Giusto, situated at 236 m a.s.l. on a hill between the
valleys of the Chienti and the Ete Morto. Important the shoe industry.
Production of cereals, vegetable, grape and beets; bovine and pork breeding.
It preserves the Municipal Palace, already Bonafede palace (XVI
cent., restored) and the church of Saint Maria in Telusiano (XIV
sec.), with one of Lorenzo Lotto's great masterpieces, a Crucifixion,
painted in 1531 when the Venetian master was at the height of his career.
Recanati - Stands
at 293m a.s.l. on a low hill to the left of the Potenza about fifteen
miles from the Adriatic sea. Important agricultural (cereals, vineyards,
vegetables) and breeding (bovine, pigs, poultry farms) center. Local factories
produce musical instruments and clothes and there are also wood, plastic
and mechanical industries. Typical handicraft is the copper working. It
was renowned in the 16th and 17thC for its commercial fair, one of the
most important in the Papal States, and its wide streets and comfortable
buildings still bear a mercantile character. One long winding street stretches
along the crest of the hill: tall shuttered palaces - renaissance and
baroque - of faded brick and stone, face each other in a stateliness that
has lost all splendour. The narrow, sunless little side-streets come to
an end with startling suddenness, framing a view of an astounding beauty.
The artistic patrimony is very rich: the church of Saint Vito,
patron saint of Recanati, dating back to the XII century, with a portal
designed by Vanvitelli, the church of Saint Domenico, of the XIV
cent., with marble portal of the 1481 and a fresco of L.Lotto inside,
the church of Saint Francisco, of the XIV cent. , the cathedral
of Saint Flaviano,with its magnificent 17th century wood ceiling,
the church of Saint Augustin, with its gothic cloister and the
Teatro Persiani. The new museum in Villa Colloredo-Mels, a splendid 18th
century villa on the edge of town, holds Recanati's greatest art treasure,
a room with four of Lorenzo Lotto's finest pictures, including a most
haunting Annunciation.
Recanati is famous as the birth-place of Italys greatest poet, Giacomo
Leopardi (1798-1837). His descendants still live in the Leopardi
Palace at the southern edge of town, where he was born and brought
up. The palace holds memorabilia, manuscripts and a library (contains
25.000 volumes and is open to the public.). Around almost every corner,
plaques mark spots referred to in his poems. Recanati was also the home
town of the great tenor, Beniamino Gigli and the Museo Gigli in
the Palazzo Comunale, or town hall, on central Piazza Leopardi holds a
collection of his costumes from some 30 operas and some of the many presents
he received.
San Severino Marche
- Situated at 344 m a.s.l. in the valley of the Potenza, to the right
of the river. Founded around 550 AD after the Goths had destroyed the
Roman Septembeda, it has two nucleous: the low city and the high city
or "castle", of medieval aspect. While the high city is nearly uninhabited,
the low city is a lively commercial and agricultural (cereals, grape,
tobacco, beets, etc.) center. Active also the cattle breeding and the
industry (alimentary, metallurgy, building materials, chemistry, plastic).
Its outstanding feature is its unusual elliptical main square, Piazza
del Popolo, circled by shady arcades. Important is the complex of the
medieval monuments: church of Saint Lorenzo in Doliolo (XI cent.),
with remarkable bell tower and cripta, the Smeducci tower, the
New Dome and the Old Dome, both widely remaked, but
they preserve the original magnificent bell towers. Remarkable the Renaissance
artistic activity: to this period go back numerous palaces and houses,
the Madonna of the Peace, a great Pinturicchio's work inside the
New Dome, and the chorus of the Old Dome. Near the town is the 15thC church
of Saint Maria of the Glorious and in the pictoreque Crickets
gorge, it is to remark the church-cave of Sant' Eustachio.
Sarnano - At
539 m a.s.l. in the high valley of the Tennacola torrent (affluent of
the Tenna), This winter sports centre and hydrothermal resort lies roughly
half way between the two provincial capitals of Macerata and Ascoli Piceno.
Its waters are claimed to be beneficial for a whole gamut of complaints,
including gout, arthritis and liver complaints. Mineral water bottling,
forage production and cattle breeding are the other activities. The modern
town is overlooked by its quiet, rather austere, medieval borgo, topped
by two solid towers, which has been left very much alone by the modern-day
development. A steep, winding street leads up to a beguiling little square,
Piazza Alta, flanked by the church of Santa Maria Assunta and the
town's medieval municipal buildings - Palazzo del Popolo with its
finely decorated Gothic-Romanesque portal, the Torre Civica, the
Palazzo dei Priori and the Palazzetto del Podestą. Remarkable
the church of Saint Francisco, of the XIII - XIV cent. with Romanesque-portal
and also the more recent Municipal Palace, with a rich civic Library
and Pinacoteca (art gallery), which includes a Madonna and Child with
two angels by Vittore Crivelli, younger brother of the more famous Carlo.
About twelve kilometres from Sarnano there is Sasso Tetto, one of the
Marche's main ski resorts, and well equipped with ski lifts and accommodation.
Tolentino -
Situated at 224 m a.s.l. in the valley of the Chienti, to the left of
the river. A town with great traditions in handicrafts and industry, Tolentino
is the seat of many important factories, in particular, in the field of
leather. Paper, clothes, furniture and metallurgical manufactures are
also relevant as well as agricultural production and cattle breeding (above
all pork and bovine). Thermal and tourist resort, above all for the pilgrimages
to the sanctuary of Saint Nicholas from Tolentino. Of remarkable
historical and artistic interest, conserves an ancient nucleus still partially
encircled by medieval walls. The most important monuments and works of
art are: the Cistercian Romanic Abbey of Chiaravalle di Fiastra;
St. Catervo's sarcophagus (one of the most important documents of Paleochristian
art); the Vaccaj Theatre (1797 - now a stage for international performances).
In the Basilica of St. Nicola (the 14th century cloister, the Lapidarium,
the Museum of Ceramics, the Museum of Votive Offerings, and Opera Museum)
we find the most important cycle of frescoes in the area and one of the
most famous in the world: fundamental pictorial text of the 14th century,
attribute to Pietro da Rimini. The International Museum of Caricature
and Humour in Art in its new home, Palazzo Sangallo. The city also hosts
the Biennial International Festival of Hunour in Art, one of the most
prestigious events of its kind. In
Tolentino Napoleon Bonaparte forced the Papal Legacy to sing the famous
Treaty in 1797 in the wake of his successful invasion of the Papal States.
Tolentino was also the birth-place of the humanist Francesco Filelfo and
the musician Nicola Vaccaj, whose way of singing is still used today all
over the world. Just
east of Tolentino, the swallowtail battlements of Castello della Rancia
come into view along the main road. This solid square castle was built
as a Benedictine abbey in the 12th century and transformed into a castle
in 1357 for the ruling Da Varano family. Near
it Joachim Murat, the King of Naples, was defeated by the Austrian troops
in the decisive battle on May 2nd-3rd, 1815. The
thermal resort of Santa Lucia, a site with a view 3 km off the residential
area is known and appreciated for its therapeutic mineral waters and its
modern sports medicine centre.
Ussita -
At 737 a.s.l. lies at the heart of the Monti Sibillini National Park below
the high slopes of Monte Bove. Until 1915 it was comprised into the common
of Visso. With 11 ski lifts cable cars, 25 kms of runs and a well-appointed
ski school, it is one of the best winter sports resorts in the central
Apennines. But even in summer the glorious surrounding countryside and
low-key treasures in its old churches make this a delighful spot for lovers
of wide-open spaces. In the nearby Pieve village
there is a ghotic church of the XIV cent., with frescoes of the XV cent.
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