The Museum Network of Fermo brings together the main cultural sites of the city in a single visiting circuit. It includes the Palazzo dei Priori, with the Civic Picture Gallery and the Hall of the Mappamondo, the Roman Cisterns, one of the largest and best-preserved hydraulic systems of the Roman era, the Teatro dell'Aquila, among the most important historic theatres in the Marche region, the Civic Archaeological Museum, the Scientific Museums of Palazzo Paccaroni, the Diocesan Museum and the Archaeological Museum of Torre di Palme, dedicated to the Picene artefacts found in the village of the same name.
FermoIn the heart of Piazza del Popolo, the palace that has represented the civic power of Fermo for centuries. Climb the dramatic staircase and walk through the Halls of the Priors: togas and gonfalons, portraits of cardinals, the gilded splendor of Gothic painting, a dazzling Adoration by Rubens. The highlight is the Sala del Mappamondo, a walnut-paneled library centered around a 1713 globe teeming with sea monsters.
For centuries, Fermo was governed from here, and in one room they even kept real eagles! Climb the grand staircase and walk through the halls: ceremonial garments, portraits of figures from the past, and paintings shimmering with gold. The tour ends in a grand ancient library, with at its center a 1713 globe adorned with ships and sea creatures.
The Diocesan Museum of Fermo, inaugurated in 2004 and housed in the spaces once occupied by the Confraternity of Suffrage, adjacent to the Metropolitan Cathedral, brings together works from the cathedral treasury, the Bishop's Palace, and churches of the Archdiocese, spanning a chronological range from the early Christian era to the twentieth century. The collections are organized into several sections: silverware, featuring works by notable Roman and local goldsmiths; liturgical vestments, including the celebrated chasuble of Arab craftsmanship that once belonged to Saint Thomas Becket; and a picture gallery with works by Crivelli, Barocci, Hayez, and others. In the main hall, some of the most significant pieces of the treasury are on display: the missal illuminated by Ugolino da Milano, the staurotheca of Pope Pius III, the pastoral staff of Pope Sixtus V, and the bronze ciborium by the Lombardi-Solari. The exhibition interweaves the artistic history with the religious history of the Archdiocese, documenting liturgy, devotion, and the ties with the papacy throughout the centuries.
The Diocesan Museum of Fermo preserves extraordinary objects that tell the history of the Church of this city through the centuries. What can you find inside? Silver chalices and monstrances crafted by skilled goldsmiths, ancient vestments worn by bishops during celebrations, and paintings by famous artists. There is also a cloak that once belonged to an English saint, Thomas Becket, decorated with Arabic motifs — an object that travelled very far before arriving here! In the largest room you can admire some true masterpieces: an ancient hand-illustrated book, a bishop's crozier inlaid with tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl, and a large bronze vessel created by two sculptor brothers. Every object has its own story to tell — you just need to know how to listen!
Descend beneath Fermo and over two thousand square metres of darkness welcome you: thirty rooms, red arches and vaults that still bear the imprint of Roman beams. Here, for two thousand years, the city's water was kept, then came the monks' wine and finally the shelter of war. A single place, a thousand lives. Listen to how the engineering of Rome still breathes beneath the ground.
We are beneath the streets of the historic city center, in a secret place built almost two thousand years ago by the Romans. This was an enormous cistern, designed to collect rainwater! During our journey, we will discover how this ancient "underground aqueduct" worked and why it is considered one of the largest and best-preserved in the world. Ready to descend into the past?
A frescoed palace that houses two very distant worlds: the extremely rare birds of Tommaso Salvadori, so expertly taxidermied they seem to still be in flight, and the ice of Silvio Zavatti, the explorer who brought the Arctic to Fermo. From the eagles of the Marche region to Inuit Tupilak figures, all the way to a life-size polar bear and a fragment of a meteorite that fell here in 1996.
In this palazzo, two very distant worlds are hidden. Tommaso Salvadori loved birds and prepared them so skillfully that they seemed to still be in flight. Silvio Zavatti, on the other hand, explored the Arctic and from there brought back objects, stories, and curiosities of the peoples of the ice. From the eagles of the Marche region to a life-size polar bear: a journey between nature and exploration.
Welcome to the Archaeological Museum of Torre di Palme. The museum is located at the entrance of the village and is dedicated to the Piceni, the people who inhabited this area before the Romans. The artifacts on display come from a necropolis discovered nearby, in the district of Cugnolo, where twenty tombs were found between 2016 and 2017. Each object tells the story of the daily life and customs of those who lived in this territory thousands of years ago.
Welcome to the Archaeological Museum of Torre di Palme! A few years ago, near this village, in a place called Cugnolo, as many as twenty tombs were discovered! Inside, archaeologists found many objects that the Piceni had buried together with their loved ones. In this museum you will be able to discover some of them, divided across three rooms. Are you ready to take a journey back in time? Enjoy your visit, explorers!
One of the largest historic theatres in the Marche region, born from the ashes of a carnival fire in 1774 and designed by the pontifical architect Cosimo Morelli. Look up: on the ceiling, Jupiter, Juno and the deities of Olympus dance around the Parisian fifty-six-arm chandelier. Through these drawing room-style boxes have passed the great Italian opera, Arab companies and even a boxing match.
It is one of the most beautiful theatres in the Marche region, rebuilt after a fire destroyed the old one in 1774. Look up at the ceiling: the gods of mythology dance around an enormous chandelier that arrived from Paris. On this stage, voices famous throughout the world have sung.
At the entrance to Fermo, a building with modern lines designed by Studio Carmassi, dedicated to contemporary art. It bears the name of Mario Dondero, a great photojournalist who chose Fermo for the last years of his life, capturing the changes of the twentieth century through his lens. Alongside it, a permanent section dedicated to the painter Sandro Trotti, featuring landscapes of the Marche region, Venice, and the Orient. A space in constant motion.
In this place, art is always new. The space takes its name from Mario Dondero, a photographer who with his shots "stopped time", capturing people and events of the twentieth century. There are also the colorful paintings of Sandro Trotti, a painter from the Marche region who brought his art all the way to China.
