RECANATI, DIOCESE OF. - A city in the province of Macerata. The diocese extends partly into the province of Macerata and partly into that of Ancona; it has 42,707 inhabitants, all Catholic, with 23 parishes, 6 male religious communities, and 10 female religious communities.
I. ORIGIN AND HISTORY
On 22 December 1240, Gregory IX, suppressing the diocese of Osimo, erected the castle of Recanati as a diocese and the church of S. Flaviano as its cathedral, removing it from the jurisdiction of the bishop of Umana. In 1263, Urban IV, in response to Recanati’s support for King Manfred, stripped it of its city status and subjected it once more to the bishop of Umana; however, both the title and the episcopal see were restored to Recanati by Nicholas IV, a native of the Marches, in 1289. From Avignon, John XXII (Recanati was torn by strife between Guelphs and Ghibellines, the latter victorious and having driven out Bishop Federico Niccolò di Giovanni along with all Guelph families) united Recanati with Macerata, which had been erected as a diocese on 18 November 1320; but in 1357 the diocese of Recanati was again restored, this time united *aeque principaliter* with Macerata under a single bishop. Sixtus V, in the consistory of 5 November 1585, proposed the erection of the diocese of Loreto, which he carried out on 17 March 1586 by suppressing the diocese of Recanati and assigning it to Loreto. However, on 18 December 1591 the diocese of Recanati was once more restored and united *aeque principaliter* with Loreto. In 1934, with the suppression of the diocese of Loreto, the communes of Castelfidardo, Montelupone, and Montecassiano were transferred to the diocese of Recanati, which previously had included the communes of Recanati and Porto Recanati; the Apostolic Administration of the Sanctuary of Loreto, by decree of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation of 11 October 1935, received ordinary jurisdiction over the city and territory of the commune of Loreto, thereby suspending the jurisdiction of the Ordinaries of Recanati-Loreto in that place.II. PERSONAGES
Recanati gave birth to Monaldo Leonardo, his son Giacomo, the musician Persiani, and numerous other illustrious figures, ancient and modern, including the goldsmith and engraver Giacomo Braccielarghe. Among them is also Antonio Colombella (d. at Ancona in 1466), a renowned preacher, doctor of the Sorbonne, master of theology at Paris and Louvain, and finally bishop of Senigallia, as well as Cardinal Lorenzo Nina, Secretary of State under Leo XIII. Worthy of special remembrance are certain bishops, such as Angelo Cino of Bevagna, elected bishop of Recanati and Macerata in 1383, under whose episcopate the cathedral was enlarged and restored (1384) and Recanati earned the title of *Iustissima civitas* in recognition of a famous code of laws compiled there and adopted for the governance of the city. Cino was later appointed by Gregory XII as cardinal legate of the Marca as vicar and died at Recanati in 1412. Another illustrious bishop was Cardinal Agostino Galamini, born at Fognano di Brisighella in 1552, Master General of the Dominicans, created cardinal in 1611, and bishop of Recanati from 1613.Gregory XII, before his election as pope on 30 November 1406 by Innocent VII, had been appointed papal delegate of the Marca (April 1405) and governed the church of Recanati through Bishop Martino di Tocco. On 4 July 1415 he solemnly resigned the papacy and was named bishop of Tusculum, perpetual legate of the Marca, administrator of Recanati and Macerata, and remained in Recanati until his death (17 October 1417), where he is buried in the cathedral. In the church of S. Vito in Recanati is buried Fr. Nicola Bobadilla, one of the first nine companions of St. Ignatius, who died at Loreto on 23 September 1590; a final exhumation of his remains took place on 23 August 1926.
III. RELIGIOUS MONUMENTS
The present cathedral’s date of construction is unknown; it already existed in 1240 when the diocese of Recanati was established. The ancient Gothic-style church was enlarged and restored by Bishop A. Cino in 1384; it has three naves, and the central one, 45 meters long and 8 meters wide, has a coffered ceiling decorated in gold with Greek-cross and octagonal lacunars: the former have paintings in the background (angels, Virtues) and the central octagon features a high-relief wooden carving of St. Flavian; the octagonal panels bear the coat of arms of Paul V, Cardinal Borghese, and Cardinal Galamini, under whose care the work was executed in 1623 by Andrea Costa of Bologna. The apse, originally octagonal, was reduced to its present form around 1633 by Cardinal Giulio Roma, bishop of Recanati. The rest of the church underwent a radical transformation in the 18th century. In the chapel of the Sacrament in Recanati cathedral is the painting of St. Lucy by Guercino (1665), and in the chapter hall is a painting of the Holy Family by Mantegna (late 15th century). Recanati preserves several paintings by Lorenzo Lotto: a St. Vincent in the church of S. Domenico, a *Transfiguration* and a polyptych (*Madonna and Child, St. Dominic, Angels*) in the municipal picture gallery, and an *Annunciation* and *St. James* in the church of the Sopramercanti. In the church of the Capuchins is the painting of the Holy Family, also known as *Our Lady of the Salad*, attributed to Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, and the *Madonna of Loreto* by Pomarano. Noteworthy are the portals of the churches of S. Domenico and S. Agostino, executed from designs by Giuliano da Maiano by Giacomo Giovanni delle Fiandre, and the church of S. Maria in Castelnuovo, with its Romanesque façade and a fine portal from 1235.
Worthy of mention is also at Montelupone the painting of the *Madonna del Latte* by Mastro Antonio da Faenza and the three-aisled Romanesque church with a crypt dedicated to St. Firman, abbot of that abbey (951-924); at Montecassiano, a terracotta altarpiece by Mattia da Firenze, the most celebrated of the *Robbia minori*, dedicated to SS. Roch and Sebastian, executed at Montecassiano in 1527; at Castelfidardo, a *Last Supper* by Tibaldi, a fine work from 1591.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Recanati flourished as a school of sculpture and casting, begun by the brothers Girolamo and Aurelio Lombardi, pupils of Sansovino, who settled in Recanati after being summoned by Clement VII to work on the sanctuary of Loreto. Among the artists of this school were Tiburzio Vercelli of Camerino, Antonio Calcagni (d. 1593), who among other works created the statue of Sixtus V at Loreto (he is buried in Recanati in the church of S. Agostino), Pier Paolo Jacometti, and Tartuino Jacometti. Pier Paolo was a sculptor, painter (having studied under Pomarano), and architect; one of the side doors of the basilica of Loreto is his work, and in Recanati, on the civic tower (Torre del Borgo), is preserved a bronze bas-relief (1634) depicting the Translation of the Holy House.