The Museums of Fano

Archaeological Museum and Art Gallery of the Malatesta Palace

Fano’s civic collections are housed inside the monumental Malatesta Palace, commissioned by Pandolfo III Malatesta and built in the first half of the 15th century. Enter the palace from Piazza XX Settembre, crossing the ancient Borgia-Cybo Arch and passing through the hallway. Before continuing down the grand staircase, the eye is enraptured by the beauty of the overlooking Corte Malatestiana.

The tour itinerary is divided through sixteen rooms, and is divided into four main areas: the Archaeological Section, the Ceramics Section and the Numismatics Section, the Fireplace Room, the Great Hall, the two small rooms of the Washbasin Room, and the so-called Morganti Room, the latter of which are intended for the Picture Gallery.

The museum thus documents a vast chronological span: from prehistoric and protohistoric finds from the Fano area to the Roman period of Fanum Fortunae, from the valuable collection of paintings of the local, Venetian, Bolognese and Roman schools of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries to contemporary art.

The original core of the collections dates back to the 18th century and consists of archaeological finds from discoveries, works from churches in the area, acquired following the suppression of corporations and ecclesiastical bodies, to which bequests and donations were added over time.

Flaminia Museum – San Michele Monumental Palace

The soon-to-be-opened Museum of the Flaminian Way in the Church of St. Michele Arcangelo, adjacent to the Arch of Augustus, is the orientation center, the virtual “gateway” to the territory that insists on the Marches route of the ancient Roman consular road. The museum is one of the important outputs of the Flaminia Nextone Evolved Cultural District project, which aspires to create a system of integrated services and functions for the promotion and enjoyment of the territory. The Museum tells the story of the Via Flaminia as a sign of belonging to this territorial community.

It is equipped with high-tech multimedia supports and apparatuses made by Marche Polytechnic University that return art-historical information, amazing images and immersive experiences. A brand new “Museum Visitors Behavior Analysis” system will monitor visitor flows: both in terms of quantity (how many people come in) and relative to their visiting habits (what they do and what they value inside the museum).

San Domenico Picture Gallery

Owned by the Carifano Foundation, the former church of San Domenico has been designated as a sacred art gallery. The building underwent several modifications over the centuries, and the result now is a single building containing: the medieval church, late Baroque altars, and Gasparoli’s 18th-century innovation.

The Pinacoteca houses Guercino’s celebrated altarpiece the “Marriage of the Virgin,” canvases by Simone Cantarini and Sebastiano Ceccarini, Simone de Magistris, Giovan Francesco Guerrieri, Federico Barocci, Palma the Younger, Federico Zuccari and other important painters of the 17th century.

The restoration also unearthed 14th- and 15th-century frescoes. Behind a Baroque altar was found a beautiful fresco divided into pictures of clear didactic intent to teach the faithful about the episodes of the Bible through a “picture-based” method reminiscent of today’s comic book drawings. In the fresco, which narrates episodes from the life of St. John the Baptist, there is the hand of a great master who with unique elegance and expressiveness combines the representational effectiveness of the Middle Ages with the beauty of the stylistic canons of the Renaissance. Not surprisingly, the name of Ottaviano Nelli of Gubbio, a late Gothic painter active in Umbria and Marche, has been mentioned.

Fano Savings Bank Foundation Picture Gallery

The Picture Gallery is located at the headquarters of the Carifano Foundation in the Malatesta Palace. The second floor houses the “Hall of Portraits,” which includes thirteen paintings, including seven by Carlo Magini, three by Sebastiano Ceccarini and his workshop, one by Jacob Ferdinand Vouet, and two by unknown authors.

Also on the second floor, the “Still Life Room” houses fourteen canvases, thirteen of which are by Carlo Magini and one from the workshop of Sebastiano Ceccarini. These works represents the largest collection of Maginian still lifes in the world.

While, the ground floor houses a collection of locally produced works from the late 19th and 20th centuries.

Museum of Natural Sciences – Bracci Pagani Palace

The Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Fano purchased and restored the historic Bracci-Pagani Palace on Corso Matteotti n. 97, to use it as a cultural and artistic center.

In addition to rooms dedicated to hosting temporary art exhibitions and library facilities, the entire second floor has been set up to accommodate a major Museum of Natural Sciences, hitherto lacking in the city of Fano.

The scientific and operational management has been entrusted to the Cultural Circle “G. Castellani” of Fano, which relies on the voluntary contribution of enthusiasts of the subject for the dissemination of scientific and educational knowledge.

The new museum houses a section devoted to paleontology with a chronology of the evolution of life on earth presented in a simple and educational manner and a display of specialized collections. An area reserved for malacology collections can be visited where the evolution of marine life from the earliest times to the present day is highlighted. In addition, there are 20 showcases where the mineralogical collection from local sources and from other parts of the world is displayed.

The collection includes about 5,000 pieces including fossils and minerals from donations by both the Castellani Circle and private citizens, of which about 2,000 have been collected over decades by professors and devotees of the subject that will be displayed inside the museum.

Diocesan Museum: Lapidary and Museum Collection

It houses mainly works owned by the diocese or from decommissioned churches. Located in the rooms of the former Pontifical Regional Seminary, it is divided into its sections: Lapidary and Museum Collection. The first houses a sampler of epigraphic, ornamental and figurative artifacts and a collection of coats of arms of Fano bishops.

The Museum Collection, on the other hand, offers works of historical, artistic and liturgical interest such as reliquaries, wood-carved and painted crucifixes, canvases of the Venetian school, wooden statues and vestments, as well as an ivory crosier, a gift from Pius V.

Bagnaresi Ethnic Museum – Malatesta Palace

The Bagnaresi Ethnic Museum is located at the headquarters of the Carifano Foundation in the Malatesta Palace. This is an ethnic museum of an international kind established thanks to Mrs. Maria Teresa Bagnaresi’s donation of a valuable and unique collection of art, crafts and multi-ethnic interest collected over more than forty years of travels to all five continents documenting a very wide range of cultures deeply connected to traditions, territory and life.

The exhibition consists of the most diverse products of indigenous master craftsmen belonging mainly to the Far East and Africa, although there are also elements from Australia, the Americas and Europe. A total of more than 2,600 objects including masks, cribs, statues, boxes, ivories, Chinese porcelain, lacquerware, cutting weapons, stone objects, jewelry, silverware, bronze and copper objects, sticks, saucers, baskets, panniers, etc., are on display.