Fermo - Main Sights

Main Sights

Fermo's attractions include:

• The cathedral, reconstructed in 1227 by Giorgio da Como, has a Gothic facade made of Istrian stone, divided by light pilasters and with a central rose window (1348), a bell tower from the same age, and a side portal. The rose-window over the main door dates from 1348. In the vestibule are several tombs, including one from 1366 by Tura da Imola, and also the modern monument to Giuseppe Colucci, a famous writer on the antiquities of Picenum. The interior has been modernized, in particular after its destruction by Christian of Mainz in 1176 by order of Frederick Barbarossa. The building is now surrounded by a garden. Excavations held in 1934-1935 under the church's pavement brought to light remains from the age of Antoninus Pius (2nd century AD) and of a Palaeo-Christian basilica dating to the 6th century AD. This had three naves divided into four bays, with a raised presbytery. Of its mosaic decorations today only those in the apse are visible, depicting two peacocks near a kantharos surmounted by the chrismon, two typical examples of art in Ravenna at the time. Among the possessions of the treasury of the Cathedral is a chasuble said to have belonged to St. Thomas Becket, murdered in Canterbury on 1170 and canonized by Pope Alexander II on 1173. It is said to have been given to ferno by Bishop Presbitero (1184–1203).

• The Roman theater; scant traces of an amphitheater also exist. Remains of the city wall, of rectangular blocks of hard limestone, may be seen just outside the Porta S. Francesco; whether the walling under the Casa Porti belongs to them is doubtful. The medieval embattled walls superposed on it are picturesque.
• The Church of Saint Francis has a good tower and choir in brickwork of 1240, the rest having been restored in the 17th century.
• Under the Dominican order monastery is a very large Roman reservoir in two stories, belonging to the imperial period, divided into many chambers, at least 24 on each level, each 9 by 6 m., for filtration.
• The Palazzo Comunale, restored in 1446, with a statue of Pope Sixtus V in front of it. The Biblioteca Comunale contains a collection of inscriptions and antiquities.

The near municipality of Porto San Giorgio has a fine castle of 1269, blocking the valley that leads to Fermo.