Fermo (ancient:
Firmum PicenumPicenum was a region of ancient Roman Italy. Picenum was the birthplace of such notables as Pompey the Great and his father Pompeius Strabo. It was situated in what is now the region of Marche in modern Italy....
) is a town and
comuneIn Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division of both provinces and regions, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.- Importance and function :...
of the
MarcheThe Marche is one of the 20 Regions of Italy...
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
, in the
Province of FermoThe Province of Fermo was constituted by Italian law in 2004 and is the fifth province of the Marche Region. The province came into existence in 2009. The administrative centre is the city of Fermo...
.
Fermo is located on a hill, the Sabulo (319 m of altitude) with a fine view, on a branch from
Porto San GiorgioPorto San Giorgio is a comune in the Province of Fermo, in the Marche region of Italy. It has approximately 16,200 inhabitants and it is located on the coast of the Adriatic Sea.-History:...
on the Adriatic coast railway.
History
The great antiquity of the city is attested by the remains of its cyclopean walls. The ancient
Firmum Picenum was founded as a Latin colony, consisting of 6000 men, in 264 BC, after the conquest of the
PicentesThe Picentes were a tribe of ancient Italy. In 269 BC they rebelled against Rome. The Picentes were Sabines....
, as the local headquarters of the Roman power, to which it remained faithful. It was originally governed by five
quaestorQuaestor is a type of public official.In the Roman Republic a quaestor was an elected official who supervised financial affairs...
s. It was made a colony with full rights after the
battle of PhilippiThe Battle of Philippi was the final battle in the Wars of the Second Triumvirate between the forces of Mark Antony and Octavian against the forces of Julius Caesar's assassins Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus in 42 BC, at Philippi in Macedonia...
, the
legio IV being settled there. It lay at the junction of roads to Pausulae, Urbs Salvia and
AsculumAsculum, also known as Ausculum, was the ancient name of two Italian cities.The first is Ascoli Piceno, the Ausculum in ancient Picenum . It is situated in the valley of the Truentus river on the via Salaria. It was originally a Sabine city . Following its defeat by the Romans in 268 BC...
, being connected with the coast road by a short branch road from Castellum Firmanum (Porto S. Giorgio).
With the
PentapolisA pentapolis, from the Greek words penta 'five' and polis 'city' is geographic and/or institutional grouping of five cities.-Significant historical cases:...
it passed in the eighth century under the authority of the Holy See and underwent thenceforth the vicissitudes of the
March of AnconaThe March of Ancona or marca Anconitana was a frontier march centred on the city of Macerata in the Middle Ages. Its name is preserved as an Italian region today, the Marche. It corresponds to the modern Province of Ancona....
. In the 10th century it became the capital of the Marchia Firmana. Under the predecessors of Honorius III (1216-27) the bishops of city became
prince-bishopA Prince-Bishop is a bishop who is a territorial Prince of the Church on account of one or more secular principalities, usually pre-existent titles of nobility held concurrently with their inherent clerical office...
s, first with the secular rights of counts -, and later as princes of Fermo.
In 1199 it became a free city, and remained independent until 1550, when it was annexed to the
Papal StatesThe Papal States, State of the Church or Pontifical States were one of the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
.
In the contest between the
HohenstaufenThe House of Hohenstaufen was a dynasty of German kings lasting from 1138 to 1254. Three of these kings were also crowned Holy Roman Emperor. In 1194 the Hohenstaufen also became Kings of Sicily...
and the papacy, Fermo was several times besieged and captured; in 1176 by Archbishop Christian of Mainz, in 1192 by Emperor Henry Vl, in 1208 by Marcuald, Duke of Ravenna, in 1241 by Emperor Frederick II, in 1245 by
Manfred of SicilyManfred was the King of Sicily from 1258 to 1266. He was an illegitimate son of the emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen but his mother, Bianca Lancia , is reported by Matthew of Paris to have been married to the emperor while on her deathbed.-Background:Manfred was born in Venosa...
. After this it was governed by different lords, who ruled as more or less legitimate vassals of the Holy See, e.g. the Monteverdi, Giovanni Visconti and Francesco Sforza (banished 1446), Oliverotto Euffreducci (murdered in 1503 by
Cesare BorgiaCesare Borgia , Duke of Valentinois was a Spanish-Italian condottiero, lord and cardinal. He was the son of Pope Alexander VI and his long-term mistress Vannozza dei Cattanei, sibling to Lucrezia Borgia, Gioffre Borgia , Prince of Squillace, and Giovanni Borgia, duke of Gandia, and half-brother to...
), who was succeeded by his son Ludovico, killed at the battle of
MontegiorgioMontegiorgio is a comune in the Province of Fermo in the Italian region Marche, located about 70 km south of Ancona and about 80 km north of Ascoli Piceno...
in 1520, when Fermo became again directly subjected to the Holy See.
Fermo is now the capital city of the new
province of FermoThe Province of Fermo was constituted by Italian law in 2004 and is the fifth province of the Marche Region. The province came into existence in 2009. The administrative centre is the city of Fermo...
, effective from 2009.
Main sights
Fermo's attractions include:
- The Cathedral, reconstructed in 1227 by Giorgio da Como, has fine Mediaeval facade and campanile, as well as the side portal. The rose-window over the main door dates from 1348. In the porch are several good tombs, including one of 1366 by Tura da Imola, and also the modern monument of Giuseppe Colucci
Giuseppe Colucci was a prolific regional historian of the Marche and writer on the antiquities of central Italy; his works include Antichità Picene in 30 volumes, and Antichità Ascolane.- Sources :*...
, a famous writer on the antiquities of Picenum. The interior has been modernized. The building is now surrounded by a garden, with a splendid view.
- The Roman
Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
theatre; scanty traces of an amphitheatre 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 battlemented walls superposed on it are picturesque.
- The church of San Francesco has a good tower and choir in brickwork of 1240, the rest having been restored in the 17th century.
- Under the Dominican order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic in the early 13th century in France...
monastery is a very large Roman reservoir in two storeys, 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
Pope Sixtus V , born Felice Peretti di Montalto, was Pope from 1585 to 1590.-Biography:Felice Peretti was born at Grottammare, in the Papal States, son of Piergentile di Giacomo, nicknamed "Peretto", and Marianna da Frontillo. He took the surname "Peretti" in 1551 and was more generally known as...
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.
Frazioni
Camera, Cantagallo, Capodarco, Cartiera di Tenna, Campiglione, Ete Palazzina, Faleriense, Gabbiano, Girola, Lido di Fermo, Madonnetta d'Ete, Marina Palmense, Moie, Molini Tenna, Montesecco, Parete, Pompeiana, Ponte Ete Vivo, Sacri Cuori, Salette, Salvano, San Biagio, San Lorenzo, San Marco, San Michele, San Tommaso, Santa Caterina, Torre di Palme, Villa San Claudio
Twin towns
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, Albania
Bahía BlancaBahía Blanca is a city located in the south-west of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, by the Atlantic Ocean, head town of Bahia Blanca Partido. It has a population of 274,509 inhabitants according to the...
, Argentina
WeihaiWeihai ; was known during the colonial period as the Weihai Garrison or Weihaiwei, and sometimes as Port Edward; is a prefecture-level city in eastern Shandong province, People's Republic of China...
, People's Republic of China
AnsbachAnsbach, or Anspach, originally Onolzbach, is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital of the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Ansbach is situated 25 miles southwest of Nuremberg and 90 miles north of Munich, on the Fränkische Rezat, a tributary of the Main river...
, Germany, since 2006 León, Mexico
Notable people
- Fermo is the birth place of poet Annibale Caro
Annibale Caro was an Italian poet.-Biography:Born in Civitanova Marche, near Ancona, he became tutor to the wealthy family of Lodovico Gaddi in Florence, and then secretary to Lodovico's brother Giovanni...
(June 6, 1507 - November 17, 1566).
- Operatic baritone Francesco Graziani
Francesco Graziani was an Italian operatic baritone and voice teacher.Graziani has been called the first modern baritone because his vocal attributes were well suited to the high-lying parts composed by Giuseppe Verdi, with whom he worked.-Early life and career:Graziani was born in 1828 in Fermo,...
(April 26, 1828 - June 30, 1901) was born in Fermo and also died there in 1901.
- Master violin maker Andreas Postacchini (searching for BD/DD but best works are late 1700s-mid1800's)
Sources and references
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06043c.htm