Macerata

It is located at an altitude of 314 m on a ridge of the hill that rises between the valleys of Potenza and the Chienti. It is the site of a university and the school of military aircraft specialization. The city's economy is based on the marketing of agricultural products of the surrounding area, constituting the most important market for cereals from the centre and also livestock (cattle).

Industrial development is a relatively new phenomenon, but there are companies already very active in the fields of construction, mechanics, food and furniture. There are considerable cultural events and folklore of Macerata in September. The city has some of the original fourteenth century walls, the Montana door, the church of Santa Maria della Porta, with a pre-XI century church, and the ‘Fonte Maggiore’ with five arches at its heart from 1326. No remarkable monuments survive from the fifteenth century, whilst the first half of the XVI century is witnessed by the elegant Loggia dei Mercanti, the restructured Palazzo Maggiore (prefecture) and the Maggiore tower, while the second half of the century is reflected in the architecture with the Bramante style in the church of? Santa Maria delle Vergini, by Galeazzo da Carpi, constituted by a Greek cross inscribed in a square with high dome. Of the XVII century are also some significant buildings: Ferri, Mozzi, Carradori, Lazzarini, Consalvi, the last two awarded to Tibaldi. The seventeenth century is seen in the church of St. Giovanni and the church of St. Paul, both by the Barnabite Rosato Rosati, and by the Town Hall (rebuilt in 1820). There was intense architectural activity in the XIII century with the Church of St. George and the cathedral, both by Cosimo Morelli, with the theatre (Bibiena-Morelli), with buildings and Santafiora Bonaccorsi, nor should we forget the small church of Our Lady of Mercy, caught between buildings nowadays, dating back to 1497 but completely rebuilt by Luigi Vanvitelli in 1742. The nineteenth century boasts the sferisterio of Irenaeus Aleandri, perhaps the most outstanding achievement of neoclassicism in the centre of Italy. In the old Jesuits’ college the city library was established, along with the Museum and the Municipal Art Gallery (with paintings by Allegretto Nuzi, C. Crivelli, Girolamo di Giovanni da Camerino, Pulzone).