Description of the attraction
Fano is a popular seaside resort on the Adriatic coast of Italy, the third largest city in the Marche region after Ancona and Pesaro. According to the latest census, it is home to about 65 thousand people.
Fano stands on the very spot where the ancient Flaminian Way opens onto the Adriatic Sea. In the era of ancient Rome, the city was known as Fanum Fortunae - Temple of Fortune. Retired soldiers of the Roman Empire lived here. By order of the emperor Octavian Augustus, defensive walls were built in Fano, some of which have survived to this day, and a triple arch, which also survived.
After the Ostrogoths attack in the first half of the 6th century, Fano became part of the Byzantine Empire, and then became part of the Ravenna Exarchate as the center of the Maritime Pentapolis, which also included Rimini, Pesaro, Senigallia and Ancona. In the 15th century, the city was ruled by the Malatesta family, one of whose representatives - Sigismundo Pandolfo - built a fortress here. Then Fano became part of the Papal States. It was on the initiative of Pope Pius V that the harbor was built in the 17th century, which was subjected to massive bombing during the First World War. The Second World War brought even more terrible destruction - then all the ancient towers and bell towers of Fano were destroyed.
Today, from the preserved monuments of history and architecture in Fano, you can see, for example, the Rocca Malatestian castle, the oldest parts of which belong to the building that existed here earlier from the era of Ancient Rome, or the Corte Malatestian palace, built in the second half of the 14th century. The latter is a huge hall with vaulted ceilings, which was probably part of the first residence of the Malatesta family, and a small turret. Gothic-style lancet windows, a staircase and a covered gallery have survived from the original building. Corte is connected via a modern bridge to another of Fano's palaces, the 13th-century Palazzo del Podesta, which today houses the archaeological museum and art gallery. Among the religious buildings in Fano stand out the Cathedral of the 12th century, the churches of San Francesco with the tomb of Pandolfo III Malatesta and his wife Paola Bianchi, Santa Maria Nuova from the 16th century with the works of the great Perugino and San Paterniano from the 16th century. Outside the city, in the town of Bellokchi, stands the Church of San Sebastiano, for the construction of which materials from the ancient cathedral were used.
