It extends over 287 sq. km. with a population of 77,700 inhabitants, of whom 77,500 are Catholics. It comprises 44 parishes served by 80 diocesan priests and 37 regular clergy, a seminary, 7 male religious communities and 15 female ones (Ann. Pont., 1932, p. 311).
The earliest Christian memories of P. date back to the 4th century: a Christian inscription from this period is dated to this time (CIL, XI, 1, 6473-75); with a high degree of probability, the episcopal see also dates from this time, although only an unverified tradition has assigned to the city a bishop Heralius of the 4th century, whose see is unknown. The first certain bishop, Germanus, dates from the 5th century (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 739). The account of St. Terentius (BHL, 807), who is said to have come from Pannonia to P., where he is said to have suffered martyrdom on 24 Sept. 247 under Decius and to have been buried in the Cathedral, which was immediately dedicated to him, is entirely legendary. The martyr Terentius, confused with the three figures of the martyr of Luni (24 Sept.), of P. (24 Sept.) and of Todi (27 Sept.), constituting one and the same person, whose history, however, remains unknown, was much later the titular saint of the cathedral of P. and considered bishop of the city (9th century). Some indications would suggest that the original cathedral stood outside the walls, on the Flaminian Way, in the place where the monastery of S. Decentius was later built, belonging to the Classe monks in the 12th century, and today there is the suburban church of the same name (of the cemetery); a passio of the martyrs Decentius and Germanus (BHL, 2115) seems to embroider upon the historical figure of Bishop Germanus, who was certainly venerated in that monastic temple from 1256 and had been buried there, as the bishops, according to ancient custom, near their respective cathedral church, from antiquity. In any case, the document has no value for what it narrates about the two characters presented as martyrs in P. during the persecution of Galerius (306-11). In the later series of bishops are found: Festus, to whom Pope Gregory the Great addressed a letter (596; Epist. 6, 44, in MGH, Epist., ed. P. Ewald and L. M. Hart-
After the death of Francesco Maria II on 28 Apr. 1631, the city and the principality returned to the Holy See.
Monasteries. — The most important was S. Tommaso in Foglia (iuxta Apostelam), Benedictine, noted for the fact that Pope Clement II died there on 9 Oct. 1647. Of the Abbey of S. Tommaso, now Apella (Montelabate), little remains: the building, reduced to a farm, preserves scant monumental elements of the Romanesque construction, some perhaps from the 9th century (A. degli Abati-Olivieri, Memorie della Badia di S. Tommaso in Foglia, Pesaro 1778).
Monuments. — Cathedral: dedicated to S. Maria (privilege of Celestine III, 12 May 1197 in the Chapter Archive) was under the protection of the Holy See. A complete restoration was carried out in 1865 by Bishop Clemente Fares: the apse was enlarged, the roof renewed, the dome constructed, and the new chapel of S. Terentius was erected (architect Carducci); the temple was reconsecrated by C. Bonaiuti in 1903.
S. Decenzio: the hypothesis of a paleo-Christian basilica has no sufficient decisive elements in its favour. The construction is Romanesque, but has undergone radical restorations: the work, carried out with a certain classical dignity, can be dated to the 9th century. Of the other churches, of which P. once had many, the most important are: S. Francesco (now of the Servites), built at the expense of Pandolfo Malatesta; S. Giovanni, a grandiose construction, the work of the architects Gerolamo and Bartolomeo Genga, begun in 1543 at the behest of Duke Guidobaldo II; S. Ubaldo, built as a fulfilment of a vow by Duke Francesco Maria II della Rovere, for the birth of his son Federico Ubaldo (16 May 1605). Other churches belong to the Baroque period: Nome di Dio, S. Maria Maddalena, originally from the 13th century, renovated according to a design by Vanvitelli (1700-73), S. Rocco, S. Lucia, etc.
In the Treasury of the Cathedral is preserved a pyx of aoric with carved figures around it: the raising of the daughter of Jairus, and the healing of the blind man: it is assigned to the 6th century. In the episcopal palace is preserved the so-called Christian nymphaeum, coming from Ginestreto, of the 7th century. In the Civic Museum, which is housed in the Government Palace (Ducal Palace, 15th century), there is a rich collection of panels (early primitives, etc.), an altarpiece: Coronation of the Virgin by G. Bellini (1467), various works by Pesaro painters: Simone Cantarini (1612-48), G. A. Lazzarini (1710-1801) and a considerable collection of ceramics, with examples of local production. Also noteworthy is the small Mosca Museum, in the homonymous palace, donated in 1882 to the Municipality by Marchesa Vittoria Toschi-Mosca. The Library, founded by Annibale degli Abati Olivieri (1708-89), possesses a notable quantity of manuscripts and compilations which partly compensate for the loss of archival material; it has an annexed museum. The archival material of the Curia has perished; in the Chapter Archive some parchments from the 11th-12th centuries are preserved.