Fermo (Firmum Picenum in Latin, Φίρμον Πικηνόν in Greek) is an Italian town of 36 751 inhabitants, the capital of the province of the same name in the Marche. Archiepiscopal seat, it is about 6 km from the Adriatic Sea.
Religious architecture
Cathedral
Cathedral of Fermo - The
religious building, dedicated to Maria Assunta in heaven, stands in
the highest part of the city, presenting itself with its
asymmetrical Gothic-style facade on the Piazzale del Girfalco
(panoramic point). The Diocesan Museum is located next to the
cathedral.
Churches in the historic center of Fermo
Chiesa
del Carmine, with adjoining convent and ancient Palazzo del Monte di
Pietà, was built at the beginning of the 14th century in Corso
Cefalonia. It was given the name of "Santa Maria Novella della
Carità", it was then dedicated to the Madonna del Carmine. It was
built in the Gothic style, of which only the facade of the pawnshop
with the portal of Marino di Marco Cedrino remains. Radical changes
were made over the years: in 1688 it was enlarged, and definitively
modernized in 1794 by the architect Pietro Augustoni.
The façade,
in Romanesque style, is in brick and travertine pilasters. Inside it
appears very spacious: it is divided into three naves divided by
mighty columns and round arches. The apse is occupied by a decorated
and gilded wooden pavilion of the Baroque period in which the
painting depicting "The Nativity" by the painter Giovan Battista
Gaulli known as il Baciccio is inserted.
Church of San Girolamo,
belonging to the Capuchin monastery, in via Leopardi, on the edge of
the ancient city walls.
Church of the Pietà, former seat of the
parish of San Matteo, in corso Cefalonia.
Church of the Poor
Clares (dedicated to the Visitation), with an adjoining cloistered
convent, in via Lattanzio Firmiano.
Church of the Madonna del
Pianto, in via Garibaldi.
Church of the Madonna delle Grazie, in
the homonymous square.
Church of San Domenico, near Piazza del
Popolo.
Church of San Francesco in Largo Mora; it was built on
the eastern side of the city between 1240 and 1425 (completion of
the bell tower); the facade was modified in the eighteenth century,
while the portal is dated 1604; the interior, of imposing
proportions and restored to its primitive aspect by the restorations
of the twentieth century, consists of three naves divided by six
large pillars and a polygonal apse; in the side chapel, dedicated to
the SS. Sacramento, there is the tomb of Lodovico Euffreducci from
1527, attributed to Andrea Sansovino; the complex includes the
convent of the Friars Minor Conventuali
Church of San Filippo,
closed since the 1920s and awaiting restoration; the former Convent
of the Filippini is now the seat of the Palace of Justice.
Church
of San Martino (formerly Sant'Ignazio), Jesuit, has two altars
inside (that of Santa Francesca Romana and that of the Presentation
of the Virgin) designed by Andrea Pozzo and built starting from
1701. These altars are the only architectural works known di Pozzo
in the Marche region.
Church of San Michele Arcangelo, former
seat of the Insigne Collegiate and parish, in via Bertacchini.
Church of San Pietro, former seat of the parish, in via Lattanzio
Firmiano.
Church of San Rocco, in Piazza del Popolo, under the
fourteenth-century part of the loggia.
Church of Sant'Agostino,
with an adjoining former convent, in via Montani. It is famous for
having inside a thorn of the crown placed on the head of Jesus
before being crucified. The thorn is enclosed in a very precious
reliquary for the materials and construction techniques. It is
thought that the reliquary was commissioned by Fra Agostino Rogeroli
in Venice and then arrived in Fermo.
Church of Santa Caterina,
with adjoining convent of the Lateran Regular Canons, in via
Brunforte.
Church of Santa Lucia, seat of the parish, in via
Marconi.
Church of San Zenone, the oldest in the city that has
come down to us, in Largo Fogliani.
Sanctuary of Mercy with an
adjoining convent of the Scalzi Augustinians, in via Augusto Murri.
Oratory of Santa Monica, in Largo Alvaro Valentini.
Other
churches in the city of Fermo
Church of Christ the Merciful Love,
in the new district of Santa Petronilla.
Church of the Madonna
del Ferro, in the western part of the city.
San Lorenzo church,
Capuchin convent.
Church of Sant'Alessandro, at the
archiepiscopal seminary in the Tirassegno district.
Church of
Sant'Antonio di Padova, Viale Trento / Villa Vitali district.
Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, in the Borgo Diaz / Cappuccini
area.
Archaeological excavations conducted in Fermo, in two distinct
areas (contrada Mossa and contrada Misericordia), have returned
funerary material dating back to the IX-VIII centuries BC, belonging
to the proto-Etruscan type, so much so that scholars have defined
the area of Fermo a Villanovan cultural island. Roman colony in
264 BC, Fermo participated in various war campaigns, and its
inhabitants obtained Roman citizenship in 90 BC. Annexed to the
Lombard kingdom, and then to the kingdom of the Franks. It became
the center and the capital of the Marca Fermana, a large area that
extended from the Musone to beyond Vasto (Chieti) and from the
Apennines to the sea.
Free commune at the end of the 12th
century, it subsequently experienced the succession of various
lordships. In the Napoleonic period, it was the capital of the
Department of Tronto (one of the three departments into which the
Marche was divided) and which also included Ascoli and initially
also Camerino. The other departments were those of Metauro with
Ancona as its capital and of the Musone with Macerata as its
capital.
In 2004 the Province of Fermo was established, with
parliamentary law 147/2004, a province that already existed until
1860 when it was suppressed with a decree-law of the Cavour
Government (Minister of the Interior Minghetti), a decree never
converted into law, and combined with the neighboring one of Ascoli
Piceno, although at the time it was smaller both for territorial
extension and for inhabitants and valuation compared to that of
Fermo.
The surrounding area, corresponding more or less to
the Province of Fermo, is called "Il Fermano", while until the
mid-twentieth century it was commonly called "La Fermana", probably
deriving from the ancient denomination of the Marca Fermana.
Symbols
The coat of arms of Fermo is a shield, divided into four
parts: two of them contain an eagle, two a cross.
The city's
motto is Firmum firmae fidei romanorum colonia (translated from
Latin, it means Fermo, a Roman colony of firm faith). Romanorum
Colonia (Colony of the Romans in Latin); it is an honor earned by
the city thanks to the loyalty ensured to the Romans in the first
and second Punic Wars. From 1336, the city of Fermo was so powerful
that the saying went: When Fermo wants to stop, the whole Marca
makes one tremble.
The territory of Fermo is bordered to the south by
the San Biagio ditch and the ridge that crosses the Madonna Bruna
locality, and to the north by the Tenna river, with different areas
beyond the river (eg Campiglione, Villa San Claudio).
Fermo
has 3 km of coastline south of Porto San Giorgio (Marina Palmense)
and 4 km of coastline to the north (Lido di Fermo, Casabianca and
Lido San Tommaso).
Some municipal areas are exclaves: Boara
(0.3 km², bordering to the north with Montegiorgio, to the south
with Belmonte Piceno and Grottazzolina, and to the east with
Magliano di Tenna) and Gabbiano (5 km², bordering to the north with
Mogliano and Francavilla d'Ete, to the south with Massa Fermana and
to the east with Montegiorgio; on the side of Mogliano, this
geographical island borders the province of Macerata).
The
territory is dotted with houses, according to the use of the
agricultural sharecropping economy, which provided for the presence
of a farmhouse family on each plot of land even if it consisted of a
few hectares.
The position characterizes the type
of warm Mediterranean climate.
Origins of the name
Its
name seems to derive from the Latin adjective firmus, with the sense
of "faithful" or "from certain borders". Other hypotheses indicate a
provenance from the Sabine Perwom or from the Etruscan Permu, with
the meaning of "crooked", to be placed in relation with the initial
plan of the city.