by — In the province of Pesaro. The ancient Fanum Fortunae stands on the Adriatic coast at the point where the Via Flaminia reaches the sea and overlooks the fertile valley of the Metauro, which flows about 3 km south of the city. The diocese is immediately subject to the Holy See; it has an area of 240 sq km with a population of 60,560 all Catholic, distributed in 47 parishes served by 84 diocesan priests and 45 regular clergy (1949). In addition to the diocesan seminary, since 1911 it has had the regional seminary for all the Marches, for which Pius XI built a new seat in 1924 along the Via Flaminia. There, all the clerics of the region (about 300) pursue their secondary and theological studies, with the exception of those from the larger dioceses such as Fermo, Ascoli, and Camerino. Among its important institutions are the St. Archangel College of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, the Hermitage of Montegiove of the Camaldolese monks, the Capuchin studentate at S. Paterniano, the Don Orione Foundation, etc.
The ancient modest center, which arose around the pre-Roman temple in a strategically important position, is first mentioned by Caesar, who in 49 BC occupied it after crossing the Rubicon. Not far from Fano, in 207 BC, the famous Battle of the Metauro took place, which was decisive in the Punic Wars and where Hasdrubal met his death. The city became a municipium; Augustus settled a colony of veterans there, among whom the land was distributed (colonia Iulia Fanestris). Augustus surrounded it with walls, still largely preserved, and the municipium in gratitude erected a three-arched arch in honor of the prince on the gate facing Rome, an arch still well preserved and which was modified in the time of Constantine. Vitruvius built a basilica there which he describes in his De architectura.
After the fall of the Western Empire, Fano was part of the Pentapolis, was destroyed by the Goths in 538, and restored by Belisarius. The donations of Pepin and Charlemagne gave it to the Church (755-74), under which the city enjoyed wide autonomy, was a free commune with its own statutes and magistrates, and extended its dominion into the neighboring countryside as far as Fossombrone, amid frequent disputes and wars both against its neighbors and among powerful families.
FANO – FANONE
Minorite Franciscans, with splendid paintings by Giovanni Santi including works by Perugino; the 14th-century churches of S. Domenico with frescoes by Ottaviano Nelli of Gubbio, and of S. Agostino, damaged in the last war, with the famous Guardian Angel by Guercino, which inspired Robert Browning’s poem of the same name; the majestic classical basilica of S. Paterniano, with Michelangelo’s door and the bell tower by Sansovino, now under reconstruction; S. Pietro in Valle, in rich and exemplary Baroque style with paintings by Reni. Other precious works of art from the churches are preserved in the Civic Museum of the Malatesta court, accessible through the Arch of Ecclesiastical Liberty beside the majestic Palazzo della Ragione built in