Cingoli is an Italian town of 9 872 inhabitants in the province of Macerata. The town is located on the top of Monte Circe, at 631 m above sea level, and is part of the club of the most beautiful villages in Italy.
Religious architecture
Collegiate Church of Sant'Esuperanzio, the
city's major monument, built in Gothic style starting from 1250,
preserves notable frescoes from the Umbria-Marche school of the 15th and
16th centuries.
Co-Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta
Church of San
Filippo Neri
Sanctuary of Santa Sperandia - dating back to the 13th
century, inside which the body of the saint is preserved
Church of
San Benedetto - above the main altar a Deposition attributed to Annibale
Carracci
Church of San Francesco - of fourteenth-century origins, it
preserves the portal and part of the bell tower from the Romanesque
church
Church of San Giacomo
Church of San Girolamo
Church of
San Nicolò -
Church of San Domenico - houses the canvas "Madonna del
Rosario and Saints" by Lorenzo Lotto
Church of Santo Spirito -
Former Abbey of the Santi Quattro Coronati
Church of San Vitale
Church of Sant'Anastasio
Ruins of the Church of San Bonfilio
Church of San Giuseppe
Hermitage of San Michele Arcangelo (also known
as Sant'Angelo)
Civil architecture
Castiglioni Palace
Town
Hall
Fountain of Bad Weather - so called because it gushed only after
heavy rains
Castiglioni Palace
Palazzo Cima
Palazzo Conti -
with a beautiful Gothic portal
Palazzo Puccetti - the portal, flanked
by two Telamons, gives access to a hanging garden
Raffaelli Palace
Palazzo Silvestri - which hosted Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (Pope Paul
III)
Source of Sant'Esuperanzio
The territory of Cingoli extends for about 150 km²
between the valley of the Musone river and that of the Rio le Laque;
it is a mountainous area, with reliefs constituting the fold of the
Umbrian-Marche Apennines called fold of Cingoli, ellipsoidal in
shape and with altitudes reaching 824 meters of Monte Acuto. Other
notable reliefs are Monte Sant'Angelo, Monte Nero, Cima delle Piane,
Pian dei Conti. The city rises in a panoramic position on the
Adriatic side of this mountain group and has behind it the Apennine
fold where Monte San Vicino (1479 m) stands out with its unique
trapezoid shape.
The stratigraphic formation of the Cingoli
reliefs dates back to the upper Cretaceous period, with very varied
lithological types; the whole area is rich in woods, representative
of a very varied flora, which embraces almost the entire
phytodiversity of the Mediterranean scrub.
In 1974 two
protected areas were established: the scrub of Monte Nero and that
of the Tassinete, whose name derives from the significant presence
of the yew (Taxus baccata). As for the fauna, some species have long
been extinct such as the vulture, others since the early twentieth
century such as the eagle and the otter. The species that still
populate the territory are the wild boar, the wolf, the squirrel,
the dormouse, the stone marten, the hedgehog, the fox, the weasel,
the skunk and some birds of prey type, corvids, passerines and those
who attend the courses of water.
In 1987 the Castreccioni
reservoir, commonly known as Lake Cingoli, was created on the Musone
river with a gravity concrete dam.
The climate of Cingoli is strongly affected by the low-mountain altitude, the relative distance from the sea and the N / E exposure, next to Monte San Vicino (which reaches 1500 m in height). These factors mainly affect temperatures, winds and snowfall. Winters are generally cold, except in anticyclonic periods and in the phases in which the mild and dry favonic currents blow from the western or south-western quadrants (garbino wind). In case of cold or icy air flows from the northern and eastern quadrants, Cingoli is usually hit by heavy snowfalls, thanks to the altitude at which it is located, the presence of the Adriatic Sea towards east - northeast and the proximity of the "massif" San Vicino which enhances the phenomena (stau effect). In some cases the snow cover can reach truly impressive heights, measurable in meters (as happened in January 2005, February 2012 and in other historical episodes). Summers, on the other hand, are moderately hot, with significant heat peaks only if Central Italy is reached by air masses from the African hinterland. The afternoon-evening thunderstorms, coming from the interior, are quite frequent, in some cases even strong. Characteristic of the climate of the city and the surrounding area is the continuity and strength of the wind: especially the one falling from the Apennines can reach and exceed 100 km / h.
The term Cingulum means in Latin "something that encloses": in fact
since the first centuries the city presented itself as a reality built
on a mountain to enclose it. Cingoli, therefore, would be equivalent to
a city built on the shelf of a mountain. The oldest evidence of
habitation in the Cingoli area dates back to the Neolithic, 4th-3rd
millennium BC. In the 9th century BC. the territory appeared to be
occupied by Picene populations. According to a legend, the Piceno
woodpecker, having arrived in the Marche region, landed right on the
Cingoli hill.
The first settled nucleus of Cingulum, in the area
of today's Borgo San Lorenzo, dates back to the 3rd century. B.C.
In the Roman period, the city was mentioned in De bello civili by
Julius Caesar and was enlarged and fortified by Titus Labieno, Cingola,
Caesar's lieutenant in Gaul. In the mid-1st century BC, in the Augustan
age, Cingoli was elevated to Municipium of the Velina tribe, in the V
Regio.
Starting from the mid-4th century there is news of a first diocese of
Cingoli, in which there was also bishop (later patron) Sant'Esuperanzio.
With the fall of the Roman Empire the site was devastated by the Goths
and Lombards and the settlement moved further west, to the top of the
hill where it stands today. The diocese disappeared in the 6th century
when it was absorbed by that of Osimo
Having become a fiefdom of
the bishop of Osimo, in the second 12th century, Cingoli became a free
municipality where it flourished. However, internal struggles began
between the local noble families, among which the Guelph Cima family
emerged, whose lordship lasted until the end of the 15th century.
Through a document, entitled Descriptio Marchiae Anconitanae, it is
possible to reconstruct the geo-political context of Cingoli: towards
the first half of the fourteenth century Cingoli had 1200 hearths
(fumantes), or approximately 5000 inhabitants. Cingoli included the
urban center and the countryside where three castles stood
(Castreccioni, Colognola and Sant'Angelo) and seven villas (Coldelci,
Colderaso, Strada, Torre, Colle, Troviggiano and Lavenano).
Starting from 1370 the Church granted the municipality of Cingoli the
power to judge criminal and civil cases with the exception of the crime
of heresy, lèse majesté and murder. This relationship of loyalty,
however, was interrupted in 1375, when the cities of the Papal State
rebelled against Pope Gregory XI. It was precisely on the occasion of
this clash, which took the name of the War of the Eight Saints, that the
authority of the Cima family was able to re-emerge. Between 1375 and
1376 Masio Cima held the office of podestà in Florence and the military
support of Florence, also guaranteed to other participants in this war
including Bartolomeo Smeducci, lord of San Severino, allowed the Cimas
to take over Cingoli in December of 1375. As soon as the sons of
Tanarello Cima entered the city they expelled the Bolognese mayor
Cortisio dei Lambertini and replaced the banners with members of the
Cima family. A regime was therefore established in which the Cima family
dominated and this resulted in the excommunication of Masio, Cimarello,
Pagnone, Benutino and Uguccione. This provision led to the pronouncement
of the interdict on Cingoli by the bishop of Osimo in 1376. At the same
time, a dispute arose between Cingoli and Osimo due to border issues
relating to the territory of Filottrano and this led to an alliance
between Cingoli and Ancona against Osimo. The papal revolt ended in
1377, when the papal troops reconquered Cingoli and stipulated the Peace
of Sarzana in 1378 with which Urban VI revoked the measures taken
previously. There is no evidence regarding the Cima heritage. However,
an act from 1408 shows that Giovanni di Benutino confiscated, with the
authorization of Urban VI, the assets of Masio Cima's heirs. Still
regarding the division of assets, all of Giovanni's cousins were exiled
from Cingoli and therefore power was concentrated in a single branch of
the family.
In December 1403 Pope Boniface IX invested John with
the vicariate in temporalibus on Cingoli for eighteen years. The Cima's
loyalty to Pope Tomacelli guaranteed various recognitions. The Cimas,
thanks to this reconciliation, managed to maintain a hegemonic role
within the city, without obtaining formal recognition from the pontiff.
In 1407, following the death of his son, Giovanni remained the sole
member of the family. In that year various military clashes took place:
Ludovico Improveti, nephew of Innocent VII, refused to be removed from
the office of provincial rector ordered by the successor to the papal
throne, Gregory XII, and contested the position with the legitimately
designated bishop of Montefeltro. Ladislao d'Angiò-Durazzo took the side
of the first and Braccio da Montone and the Da Varanos of Camerino took
the side of the second. Since Braccio had removed Apiro from the control
of the Smeducci, Cima proposed to the leader an offer of 5,000 florins
to allow Apiro to pass into Cingola territory and Braccio accepted.
However, when he realized that Giovanni had hired a militia of 600
infantry to protect himself from attacks, Braccio da Montone decided to
enter the Cingola territory with weapons. Inevitably there was a clash
in which an army of 2,000 infantry and 700 cavalry was involved,
defeated by the troops of the Perugian leader. At that point Braccio
managed to conquer Cingoli and imposed Anselmo da Montemilino, his
cousin, as governor. However, Giovanni Cima soon reached an agreement
with Braccio da Montone and was therefore able to regain control of the
city.
Unlike what happened in other cities, the Cima dominion
ended due to dynastic extinction. From Giovanni's second marriage to
Rengarda Brancaleoni a daughter was born, Francesa, who would marry the
lord of Sassoferrato. Giovanni died in 1422. Subsequently, Rengarda
married Anselmo di Montemilino, cousin of Braccio da Montone and this
caused the birth of a crisis for Cingoli. When the state of Braccio
collapsed in 1434, Anselmo's government was overthrown following a
popular uprising. Agreements were therefore established which stipulated
that Braccio's supporters could not return to the city and the damnatio
memoriae of the Cima was posed. Therefore not even Giovanni's heirs
would ever return to Cingoli. At that point the question of the division
of the Cima assets arose which characterized the history of that period.
Francesa Cima died without a will in the house of Galerano Francesco di
Silvestri. The governor established that the Cima movable assets were
confiscated by the Apostolic Chamber and leased to the Municipality.
In 1429 a dispute broke out between the municipality and the
monastery of Santa Caterina for the possession of some lands and the
heritage attracted Francesco Sforza. The latter occupied Cingoli in 1434
to take possession of the Cima's assets, and was seen as a defender of
the municipality as the Cima would have enriched themselves at the
expense of the community. In 1439 Francesco Sforza was appointed marquis
of the March and standard bearer of the Church. In 1444 Eugene IV
confirmed the deed of donation of the Cima assets to Francesco Sforza.
In the mid-15th century Cingoli was able to give life to his municipal
regulations and papal control over the Marche without giving up the
jurisdictional spaces conquered at the time of the Cima.
In 1725 Pope Benedict XIII restored the old bishop's chair and Cingoli was elevated to the rank of city. A Cingola, Francesco Saverio Castiglioni, became pope in 1829 as Pius VIII. With the Battle of Castelfidardo, Cingoli was annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia and in 1861 to the Kingdom of Italy.
Libraries
Ascarian municipal library
Museums
Municipal
art gallery "D. Stefanucci" named after Donatello Stefanucci
State
archaeological museum of Cingoli
Lake Museum
Sidecar Museum -
which houses motorcycles and sidecars from the first models to the most
recent ones
Museum space Church of San Domenico
Antiquarium of
Villa Foligno-Della Rovere in San Vittore di Cingoli.
Anthropic
geography
Fractions
Below is the list of the 30 Cingoli hamlets
(the number of inhabitants is indicated in brackets, which for Cingoli
town is 3,261):
Avenale (244); Botontano (20); Chief of Rio (22);
Carciole (77); Castel Sant'Angelo (17); Castreccioni (32); Cervidone I
(16); Cervidone II (65); Civitello (19); Colcerasa (14); Colle San
Valentino (234); Grottaccia (502); Castreccioni Lake (355); Marcucci
(17); Moscosi (135); Mummuiola; Pettovallone (10); Piancavallino (18);
Pian della Pieve (51); Well (214); Saltregna (47); San Faustino (63);
San Flaviano (41); Santa Maria del Rango (20); Boxing Day (25); Santo
Obrizio; San Venanzo (33); Saint Victor (234); Road (1,444); Tower
(359); Nougat (113); Troviggiano (1,030); Valcarecce (31); Colognola;
Castelletta; Coppo (5)
Soccer
The Cingolana club was based in the municipality and was
active from 1963 to 2013. The ASD San Francesco-Cingoli football club
was founded in 1993 and became Cingolana-San Francesco in 2021. The
Victoria Strada company is based in the hamlet of Villa Strada. They
both participate in regional amateur championships.
The
five-a-side football clubs Grottaccia, Avenele, Moscosi 2008 and
Polisportiva Victoria are also based in Cingoli.
Handball and
volleyball
The Polisportiva Cingoli founded in 1980 has two teams,
men's and women's, both competing in the top national divisions
2020-2021. The same club is also present in women's volleyball.
Rally
The "Adriatic rally" and the Marche rally take place in the
municipality.
Tennis
The Cingoli tennis club, founded in 1950,
organizes the "Balcone delle Marche" trophy, now in its 60th edition.
Sport facilities
Municipal Stadium "Aldo Spivach"
"Luigino
Quaresima" Sports Hall, known as PalaQuaresima
The "Bartolomeo
Tittoni" cross track has hosted numerous international events and World
Championship Grand Prix.
Acquaparco VerdeAzzurro - Swimming Center
and Sports Field - San Faustino