Departures

• Tuesdays at 9.30 am all year round.
• Other dates available by request. Minimum of 2 participants.

Duration

• 3 hours

Booking

Booking required by choosing one of the following methods:

• At your accommodation facility
• On www.ebikenellemarche.it
• By email: fermo@viaggiatori.biz
• By phone: 0734229178 or 3281362503

Includes:

• rented e-bike and helmet
• certified cycling guide
• refreshments

Departures

• Wednesdays a 9.30 am all year round.
• Other dates available by request. Minimum of 2 participants.

Duration

• 3 hours

Booking

Booking required by choosing one of the following methods:

• At your accommodation facility
• On www.ebikenellemarche.it
• By email: fermo@viaggiatori.biz
• By phone: 0734229178 or 3281362503

Includes:

• rented e-bike and helmet
• certified cycling guide
• refreshments

Departures

• Tuesdays at 3.30 pm all year round.
• Other dates available by request. Minimum of 2 participants.

Duration

• 2 hours

Booking

Booking required by choosing one of the following methods:

• At your accommodation facility
• On www.ebikenellemarche.it
• By email: fermo@viaggiatori.biz
• By phone: 0734229178 or 3281362503

Includes:

• rented e-bike and helmet
• certified cycling guide
• refreshments

On the first floor, you can visit the elegant Sale di Rappresentanza (Representation Rooms) of the City Hall. Among these, the Portraits Room, that owes its name to the rich collection of portraits of Cardinals and illustrious men and the Eagle Room, today’s seat of the Municipal Council, characterized by a majestic eighteenth century decoration representing the political and cultural glories of the city.

On the second floor there’s the Civic Art Gallery. The collection was constituted over time thanks to the acquisition of works from the churches of the city and of the whole area. The Art Gallery occupies five rooms and collects masterpieces by undisputed Masters like Jacobello del Fiore, Vittore Crivelli, Giovanni Lanfranco and Pieter Paul Rubens. You can find many artifacts and relics connected to Fermo, as a proof of its historical and political importance. Among them, you can admire the City Coat of Arms, characterized by the eagle and Lu Marguttu, a wooden polychrome statue used in the past during the Medieval celebrations on 15 August on the occasion of the Assumption’s Day, Fermo’s patron saint. There are also many gothic works realized on panels enriched by golden backgrounds. Among them must be mentioned the Polyptych of Santa Caterina, by Andrea da Bologna, with its rich original woodwork, and the fine Madonna of the Humility by Francescuccio di Cecco Ghissi, that represents the Madonna during the intimate moment of the breastfeeding. Undisputed masterpiece is the Polyptych of Santa Lucia, by the Venetian Jacobello del Fiore. The eight scenes are set in fairy backgrounds characterized by gothic architectures and mountain landscapes and enlivened by characters in sumptuous clothes, Santa Lucia above all with her golden clothes. The museum’s most prestigious work is without doubt the Adoration of the Shepherds by the great Flemish artist Pieter Paul Rubens, that with its nocturnal light charged with glares stands out in the Baroque Room, that hosts many other valuable works such as the majestic Pentecost by Giovanni Lanfranco.

At the end of the visit, we find the enchanting Globe Room, that preserves the oldest nucleus of the civic library, established in 1688 thanks to a conspicuous financial donation by Cardinal Decio Azzolino. The room, completely covered with wood, with shelves in walnut and a paneled ceiling in fir wood, owes its name to a large globe completely drawn in pen by the cosmographer Amanzio Moroncelli in 1713. The globe is the main character of an interesting mystery you can only discover visiting this fascinating room.

Taking a walk among the Rooms of Palazzo dei Priori is like travelling in time in Fermo’s history, from the oldest periods, testified by the archaeological finds from almost 3000 years ago to the modern time, going through the political and artistic glory of the Middle Ages and the suggestive elegance of the XVII century.

With regard to the most interesting palaces from an historic and artistic point of view, Palazzo Azzolino is one of them; it was built on a project by Antonio Cordino, known as Antonio da Sangallo the Young, one of the most towering architects of the Renaissance and commissioned by the marquis Giovan Francesco Rosati The building after a while became property of the Cardinal Decio Azzolino the Young, State Secretary under Clement IX’s pontificate, influential patron and loyal confidant of the Queen Christine of Sweden. The palace’s facade is divided into two different orders through a string course; while the low part has five large arcades, the high one shows five windows with architraves. The courtyard, whose two longest sides are bordered with porticos, shows an octagonal well in the middle.

Along this fundamental city road axis we can find also many religious buildings, including the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, built around the mid-fourteenth century and reconstructed at the end of the 1700s with its majestic façade of bricks and travertine. Next to the Church it is preserved the nice gothic portal of the Hospital of Santa Maria della Carità, built around 1341 to offer hospitality to foreigners, pilgrims and abandoned children. This is also the reference of the sculptural relief made of white Istrian marble, portraying the Madonna of Mercy protecting a large group of poor people under her large mantle. The scene is contained in a pointed frame decorated with gothic leaves like tongues of flame, culminating with the Almighty’s bust portrayed as He’s blessing. Around the year 1522 the Hospital was substituted for the Mount of Piety, risen in order to battle the usury’s spread by granting small loans in exchange for a pledge.

At the crossroad between Corso Cefalonia and Corso Cavour stands out Torre Matteucci, the only noble tower still visible in Fermo. The tower, built in the XII century, during the 1500s became property of the Matteucci family, whose coat of arms stands out on the main façade. According to the tradition, Mihirimah Sultan, daughter of Suleiman the Magnificent, was segregated in the tower after being kidnapped in Corfù in 1542 by Saporoso Matteucci, a great leader of the noble Fermo’s family. The tower is made of bricks and travertine; it shows two small Romanesque doors and has no crenellation. We can still see the embrasures, employed to hit the enemy using throwing weapons when firearms did not exist. Going along the avenue, you can reach the seventeeth-century Palazzo Paccaroni, recognizable for the elegant rough ashlar in the middle of the façade, making it a unique building in Fermo’s panorama. The portal is interesting too: it may seem made of stone but, looking at it more carefully, you can see it is made of wood. After having been bought by Fermo’s municipality, first it hosted the seat of the Commercial School “Fracassetti”, then the Music Conservatoir and the University. Today it is the seat of the Judicial Authorities and it has been chosen to host the new Scientific Museums. Just in front of Palazzo Paccaroni, you can find the Church of San Filippo Neri, whose construction began when San Filippo was still alive. The religious building, consecrated in 1607, is located where once stood the fourteenth century church dedicated to the Holy Spirit and it is one of the most untimely and significant prototypes of the reformed congregations’ settlement in the area. It was built thanks to a substantial loan by Fermo’s municipality and to the donation of local noble families as regards the chapels’ decoration. The church’s interior has a Latin cross shape with integrated transept and, with its stuccos, plaster and faux marbles, it deserves a significant position among the Baroque art’s examples in Marche. Along the central nave’s sides there are six chapels, three in each side and each of them shows the customer’s wealth; many of them were so wealthy, they chose mother-of-pearl and precious stones for the altars’ decoration. The church was enriched by famous works of art like the altarpiece of the Pentecost and the Eternal by Giovanni Lanfranco and the prestigious Adoration of the Shepherds, the only work by Pieter Paul Rubens in Marche, both exhibited in the Civic Art Gallery. The church today is used as an auditorium and for temporary exhibitions.

The natural organic colours, originally obtained from plants, flowers and animal secretions, had their first applications during the late Neolithic through the discovery and birth of spinning and weaving, as unique substances in nature that allow the colour to penetrate deeply into fibres, without releasing it later during washing and making it resistant over time. These methods and techniques were employed until the invention of synthetic colours coming from the petrochemical industry at the end of the XIX century.

Flemish tapestries of Fermo Civic Art Gallery

In Palazzo dei Priori the “Fermo Tapestries” are exhibited and the most important among them is surely the one representing the Annunciation, realized in the late XV century and inspired by a drawing of the Flemish painter Justus van Gent. The preciousness of the tapestry is not only about the figurative element, but also about the technical and executive ones. There are indeed also laminated weave’s threads and a brilliantly passed attempt to create shades using the so-called “chromatic wedges”, realized channelling mathematically the weaves’ number, with the result that a colour gives way to another one almost shading. The employed colours are completely obtained from plants and the blue is obtained from woad, the red from rubia.

Herbal Paper Code XV century Romolo Spezioli Library

The herbs and the botany, the biodiversity and the germplasm available in nature allowed over time the development of vegetal molds for the extraction of colourants and vegetal pigments, the herbals were indispensable tools for the knowledge of medicinal plants. Fermo herbal, preserved in the ancient fund of “Spezioli” library has been digitalised in order to be publicly available through 3 touch screen devices located in the tourist route of Fermo. You can see about 20 panels with vivid representations, every plant has its name written in red and, below, a note about its therapeutic properties, between scientific and mythical language, between experience and legend. The handwritten note dated 8 January 1558 showing that the herbal belonged to Gherardo Cibo, a famous herbalist and plants’ illustrator, is of significant interest. He was born in Genoa and lived for a long time in Marche in Rocca Contrada, today called Arcevia, where he died.

Diocesan Museum

The Diocesan Museum is located next to Fermo Cathedral that rises on top of Girfalco Hill, one of the most panoramic places of the city with overviews over the Adriatic Sea and the Sibillini Mountains. Inside in the Sale dei Paramenti sacri (Sacred Vestments Rooms) from the XVII century to the beginning of XX century you can admire the dresses’ colours and especially the visit is reserved to the Chasuble of St.Thomas Becket, result of the Arabic textile art dated 1116, given to Fermo Church from Fermo bishop Presbitero, who received it as a gift from St. Thomas when they were both studying in Bologna. Every colour of the exhibited textile collections were made using natural organic colours, obtained from both plants and animal secretions. In the exhibiting visit, we can also admire the Messale de Firmonibus, illuminated in 1436 by Ugolino da Milano using mineral temperas and vegetal lacquers.

Santa Monica Oratory

In Campoleggio quarter there are Roman, medieval and Renaissance artistic testaments and among them stands out the Oratory of Santa Monica, built in 1425. The Oratory preserves inside many frescoes of the international Gothic with different scenes (by unknown authors but at the beginning attributed to Salimbeni brothers) one in particular is the Feast of Herod, that represent elegantly dressed men and that shows also how vegetal colours were used in the clothes of that period. In the Oratory you can find the representation of Saint Blaise, wool combers’ patron saint, holding the instrument of his martyrdom’s in his hand.

Piazza del Popolo is the heart of the city, accurate and linear in its forms, it is bordered by two 16th-century porticoes in bricks. This square houses the oldest public buildings, each with its own architectural feature that, however, follow the rigour and uniformity of the square.

Palazzo degli Studi with its elegant frescoed loggia that connects it to Palazzo dei Priori, shows in the middle of the facade a tabernacle preserving the patron saint Santa Maria Assunta’s statue. The four busts on top of the windows portray the Popes who contributed to Fermo University, located here until the 1800s. The building houses today the Civic Library, one of the top ten in Italy; it preserves more than 300.000 volumes. Among the most precious books of the collection there is the Libro delle Ore (The Book of Hours) belonged to Christine of Sweden and an epistle de su gran descubrimiento (of his great discovery) by Christopher Columbus from 1493.

Palazzo dei Priori, the oldest public building of the town, with its impressive Renaissance facade houses the civic museums: the Art Gallery, the pre-Roman Archaeological Section and the amazing Sala del Mappamondo (Globe’s Room), ancient heart of the civic library.

The Art Gallery preserves works from a period going from the Middle Ages to the XIX century, including many of great importance like the precious boards representing the Stories from the Life of St. Lucy by Jacobello del Fiore, a gothic masterpiece from the early XV century, the Adoration of the Shepherds by Pieter Paul Rubens, a fascinating painting by the great Flemish artist, and the Pentecost by Giovanni Lanfranco, a majestic altarpiece of the Baroque’s master. Picentes’ and Villanovan culture’s finds are instead the heart of the archaeological exhibition that, together with the municipal Representation rooms enrich the itinerary.

Fascinating and mysterious is the old Globe Room, completely covered with wood, it constitutes the original nucleus of the city library and it owes its name to the large globe from the XVIII century hosted there, by the Venetian cartographer Silvestro Amanzio Moroncelli.

The Governor’s Palace closes the Square: its building started in the XVI century. Today’s seat of the City Hall, it owes its name to the pontifical representatives, chosen among the closest relatives of the Holy Father that dwelt in this building to handle the pontifical business in the area.

Just after the Square we find the Great Roman Cisterns, an amazing architectural building made of thirty rooms connected to each other, built two thousands years ago for the water harvesting and distribution. Hidden in the basement of a part of the historic centre, they are an unparalleled monument in dimensions and state of conservation, unmissable for every visitor. Along via Mazzini, the street that leads to Girfalco Square, the highest point of the historic centre, is located Teatro dell’Aquila, the city theatre. Provided with more than one thousand seats, divided into a large stalls area and five floors of boxes, Teatro dell’Aquila of Fermo is the largest historical theatre in Marche. It was inaugurated in 1790 under the name “Nuovo Teatro dell’Aquila” (New Theatre dell’Aquila), because it was meant to substitute the “Old” one, partially destroyed in a fire. The magnificence of the interiors anyway can’t be realized from the outside. The sobriety of the facade would never let one foresee the wealth of the red furnishings, the elegance of the decoration of golden stucco and the white parapets or the majesty of the ceiling decorated with a mythological scene.

Going along via Mazzini, you can reach the city overlook where the solemn Cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of Mary stands out, with its Romanesque-gothic facade in Istrian marble from 1227. Noticeably asymmetrical due to the decentralized tympanum, the Cathedral shows an astonishing portal with a pointed arch, on top of which there’s a pinnacle and an impressive rose window from the XIV century, with pierced leaves and twelve small twisted columns. The interior, restored at the end of the XVIII century in neoclassical style, magnificent and impressive, preserves in the basement the ruins of an ancient church from the V century AD, proof of the Christian cult’s antiquity in the area.

The amazing view you can enjoy from Girfalco Park, rich in centuries-old trees, allows to range from the sea toward the hills of the backcountry to the Sibillini Mountains and it gives back to the tourist the privileged position that made Fermo a flourishing centre of studies, cultural and commercial exchanges; it has always been a land of hospitality and warmth.