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Fano

During our stay in Italy, our 'home base' was Fano.  We actually only had dinner at restaurants in Fano twice during our entire 3-week stay.  Here is a picture of our 1st dinner.  In the picture are Valentina (Federico's wife), Doni and Francesco (our hosts, & cousins by marriage), Filippo (Paul's 2nd cousin), Paul, Anne, Giulia (Federico's daughter), Federico (Paul's 2nd cousin & sibling of Filippo), and Cinzia (Filippo's fiancée).

Dinner at Orfeo Restaurant

Staying in Fano, we of course spent time exploring this city.  We started exploring even before getting there ... Anne used Google Maps Streetview to familiarize herself a little.  She also discovered a webcam that is in the central plaza: Piazza XX Settembre Webcam.  If you look at the webcam, at the far end of the piazza, on the left of the screen, is the Fontana della Fortuna (Fountain of Fortune), which shows the Goddess of Luck carrying a 'changing wind' in her cloak.

Piazza XX Setembre

The building to the right, right of the light post and the small road between buildings, is the tourist office, and is where the webcam is located.  The building to the left, with the tower, is the Teatro Della Fortuna.  The theater uses part of a building from 1299, and the current building was built in the mid-1800s.  The tower, however, is much newer; it had been damaged in World War 2.  The theater only reopened in 1998.  Our other dinner out in Fano was with Giovanna (Paul's 2nd cousin once removed) and her son Filippo (Paul's 3rd cousin).

Filippo, Giovana, Paul, Anne

People from Fano are knowledgeable about the history of their town, and Filippo certainly was.  He informed us that the theater tower destroyed in WWII had been generally considered a more attractive style.  It was similar to the tower of the church Santuario di San Paterniano, seen here at the end of a typical Italian old-city-center ("la città vecchia") street.

Santuario di San Paterniano

In this picture the church is seen behind one of the historic medieval city walls, and you can appreciate the lovely design of the tower.

Santuario di San Paterniano

Yes, that is a medieval wall.  Even more amazing is the Roman wall and the famousArch of Augustus, which is where Via Flaminia enters the city.  The arch dates from AD 9.  It unfortunately was damaged in 1463, but much still remains.  They were doing some construction in front of the arch, so our pictures of it are limited.  But here is Paul, on our 1st night in Italy, showing the arch:

Paul showing the Arch of Augustus

Think about this: that arch is over 2000 years old.  You can see the remnants of the 'attic', arches that went across the top of the gate that were damaged in 1463, in this next picture that shows the front of the arch.

Arch of Augustus

Within the arch is a spot that was used at one point for donations for the poor.  The sign says in Latin "eleemosy nis expositorum" which Google translates as "the exposed end of alms."  The small slot could be used to place donations.

Roman era sign

 Here is Anne next to a nearby section of the Roman wall.  Some sections are in better shape than others.  This wall originally ran for 1700 meters (about 5600 feet); now something over 500 meters (about 1650 feet) remain.  The walls were damaged in the Gothic wars in 540 and were repaired then.  So even the newer sections of this wall are almost 1500 years old; they seem in pretty good shape for being that old! (We have a old stone wall on the edge of our property; it is maybe 200 years old and is just a pile of rocks.)

Anne in Fano

This next picture has another view of the wall, and includes the home where Giovanna (pictures above) grew up.  Here in the United States, we can hardly imagine playing on a 2000-year old wall every day as a child.

Fano's Roman Wall

In this next picture you can see the structure of the wall.  When constructing these thick and solid walls, the Romans first built two short thin walls about 6 feet apart.  This is filled in with pebbles and stones of various sizes in concrete.  Then the wall is built higher, and filled in with more stones and concrete.  This is continued until the desired height is reached.  It makes for an extremely strong and large wall.

Roman wall edge

Via Flaminia (the Roman road mentioned above) went from Rome to Fano (known at that time as Fanum Fortunae), then turned North towards Pesaro.  There is a small section of the road with large stones, rather than the cobblestones that are on most of the road (Via Nolfi).  Doni tells us that this section is from the original ancient Roman Via Flaminia.  So we walked (and Anne pranced) on a genuine Roman road! Via Flaminia was originally built in 220 BC ... that would be 2238 years ago as of this writing. 

Via Nolfi, Fano

Another Roman-era item is the Panther Mosaic.  According to the sign, this mosaic was unearthed in 1952 from the remains of a wealthy citizen's house.  There were actually 2 mosaics.  One had a central image of a running horse; this one was left in place and is not visible today.  The other has a central image of a panther being ridden by a winged figure with vines on each side; the image is considered to be referencing Dionysus. This mosaic was removed from that location, restored, and reconstructed in the courtyard of the Palazzo Malatestiano.

Paul next to the mosaic, to provide scale:

Paul and Panther Mosaic

And the mosaic:

Panther Mosaic

We think this next picture is interesting because it shows the Roman era Arco di Augusto, the medieval wall and tower, and the modern road and cars ... and of course the modern orange construction netting.

Fano, Italy

The little turrets on the top of the tower (presumably for protection of archers, but that is only a guess) are the same as what is on the top of the Rocca Malatestiana.  The Malatesta were an important ruling family in this area.  This fortress ("rocca") was first referenced in written sources in 1343, but the current building is from 100 years later (mid-1400s).  It was restored in the early 2000s, after having been damaged at various times, most recently in World War 2.  (This area was heavily impacted by WWII.) 

Rocca Malatestiana

This next picture has the Rocca from a different angle, with a car in the photo for perspective:

Rocca Malatestiana

 

 

Updated July 2020