Discovering Fermo and its coastline

Porto Sant’Elpidio is a town along the coast of the Marche Region, in the province of Fermo; it is in the heartland of the Marche’s shoe industry. The historic fishing village, which was the seaport of Sant ‘Elpidio a Mare, has today become a fashionable seaside resort. It features a 7 km sandy and pebbled beach, a cycling path, pine woods and well equipped campings. Porto Sant'Elpidio is a member of "Friend of Itinerant Tourism City", giving the motor caravans the possibility to stop and use essential services, such as dumping waste and drinking water.

Must see attractions are: the old Clock Tower, symbol of the city, built to defend the town from pirate raids, the Church of the Annunciation and splendid villas, such as Villa Murri and Villa Barrucchello, that host cultural events in Summer. The Sanctuary of Addolorata was founded in the 16th century in the nearby Cova area. The basin of the Tenna river, also called “Paludi di San Marco” (St. Marco’s Marshes), is an ideal location for bird watching in early Spring and late Autumn. The most important event taking place in Porto Sant'Elpidio is  "The World Theatre", the International Theatre Festival for children (July), with shows and perfomances at the "Teatro delle Api", opened in 2006. The Festival is one of Italy's most remarkable events dedicated to the theatre for children. A  must in summer time is the Sant'Elpidio Jazz Festival.

Porto Sant 'Elpidio is a seaside resort, in the heartland of the Marche's shoe industry.
The historic fishing village has now become a fashionable seaside resort, with gravel and sandy beaches, comfortable campings and a cycling path for bike lovers. Its main attractions are also the pine woods to the north and plenty of enormous shoe shops along the main SS16.
In the old town square stands the sixteenth century clock tower with a square base, once used as watch tower.

INFO

Info
Tel. +39 0734 227940

ATAF Tourist-hotel Association of Fermo

Tel. and  Fax +39 0734 674787 - +39 0734 684134
info@vacanzefermane.it
www.vacanzefermane.it

Porto San Giorgio is a town on the Marche’s coastline. What was once the ancient port for the inland city of Fermo is now a pleasant seaside resort with sandy beach, numerous facilities and a well-equipped marina. Its streets, sandwiched between the main SS16 road and the sea, offer plenty of chances for window shopping and in high summer the place has a lively air and plenty of concerts. It owes some of its charm to a few fine examples of the Liberty Style architecture that was much in vogue in the smarter seaside resorts across Italy at the turn of the 19th century. Its 13th century fortress, built by Lorenzo Tiepolo, later Doge of Venice, stands close by the town’s central square, and has fine towers and high keep.

Porto San Giorgio is an important holiday resort. Its beach (awarded the Blue Flag in 2018) is sandy. It boasts many beach resorts and hotels. A biking track is also there, and a richly equipped yacht basin offers to yachtsmen and yachtswomen the pleasure of a safe haven for high level sailing (it is awarded the Blue Flag since 1987). The boardwalk is embellished with century-old palm trees; its paving and city lights are enclosed in a suggestive frame by liberty apartment houses built in the beginning of the XX century. Many of such houses can be admired in the town centre: for instance the Villa of Roses. Built in 1921, whose outside is decorated with most refined majolica ornaments, while Art Nouveau embellishes the whole inside. Since 2015 children may enjoy the Bambinopoli (“Childrentown”) Square, a wide playground by the boardwalk where they may run around, bike and skate and have fun on brand new toy structures.

Must see attractions are: the historic Theatre “Vittorio Emanuele”, built at the beginning of the twentieth century; the nineteenth century church of San Giorgio, housing a copy of the polyptich of Porto San Giorgio made by Carlo Crivelli; the baroque Church of the Suffrage; the Church of the  Holy Rosary; the Villa Bonaparte, built upon the order of Girolamo Bonaparte, Napoleon’s brother, who lived in Porto San Giorgio between 1829 and 1832. Another very interesting building is Villa degli Oleandri (Riva Fiorita), surrounded by a large garden, now housing the Museum of the Sea. The most typical dishes are the garagoli ( sea snails in red sauce and spices) and the fish stew. Vin cotto (boiled wine) is the traditional local wine. The most remarkable event is the Sea Festival (Festa del mare) a celebration of all things fishy, and featuring a giant "frying pan". The Padella gigante dell'Adriatico is six metres in diameter, holds some 1,000 litres of cooking oil and is used to fry roughly 1,000 kilos of baby squid and sardines in around three hours. In September there is the International Festival of Chess, attended by professional players from around the world.

The parish church is dedicated to the town’s patron Saint George. The church was built between 1831 and 1851 by the architect Giunchini near the Clock Tower and the Fortress, to replace the previous church which was demolished in 1804. The neo-classical style building, has three naves divided by double columns and two-gabled facade. Inside the church, there is the statue of St. George on horseback, made by Giovanni Paci (1840), a version of a polyptych made by Fermo Art Institute students, as well as a painting by Gaetano Gandolfi representing Saints of the Franciscan Order. The square in front of the church, there is the Democracy Fountain  by Alfonso Bernardini and the Clock Tower.

Not far from Piazza del Popolo, the Roman cisterns are entered through a door in Via degli Aceti, a steep and evocative alley in the historical centre with characteristic brick paving. The large underground complex of the great Roman cisterns, datable to the end of the 1 st Century B.C. and unique in Italy for its area in square metres, is made up of 30 intercommunicating rooms, laid out in three parallel rows. They were part of a complex system involving a well-organized aqueduct which started with spring water and distributed it throughout the town. The imposing size and excellent condition add charm to an underground journey through Roman building techniques and hydraulic engineering. Inside we can observe traces of impermeable concrete, the brick lining of the partition walls, the imprints of the boards used to make the ceilings of the single rooms, the cleaning platforms, the aeration wells, the inlet and outlet pipes.

Piazza del Popolo is the heart of Fermo. The square is closed on the shorter sides by very important historic buildings: the Town Hall, the Studi Palace, and the old Apostolic Palace. On the outside, there are double external staircase and the front porch, and the impressive statue of the Pope Sixtus V, who was born in Grottammare. Inside the building, there are many rooms, including the Civic Art Gallery where there is the Nativity by PP. Rubens in 1608. The baroque Studi Palace (16^th – 17^th centuries) is the place of the library. The building, made by the architect Rainaldi, has a portal topped by a balcony and the Statue of the Assumption (Paolo Da Venezia, 1587). In the Archibishop’s Palace, there is a series of important paintings such as the Saint Rocco Porch, consisting of nine arches supported by columns (1528) and the Renaissance portal.

Fermo is situated on the slopes of Sabulo Hill (319 above sea level). The city is now divided into two parts: the old town, that has remained almost intact through the centuries, and the new area.

SEASIDE HOLIDAY OFFER:  Fermo features the seaside resorts of Marina Palmense (3 km of beach to the south of Porto San Giorgio)  and Lido di Fermo, Casabianca and Lido San Tommaso (4 km of beach to the north). The beaches at Lido di Fermo and Marina Palmense are both pebbled and sandy; the area is full of camping sites, tourist villages and apartments and equipped with many facilities, like bars, restaurants and nightclubs. The resorts are surrounded by green and lush hills, protecting the coast from the winds. There's a bike path running from Casabianca to the village of San Tommaso.

ATTRACTIONS: The heart of the town is the magnificent Renaissance Piazza del Popolo, formerly Piazza Grande, where there is the sixteenth century Palazzo dei Priori, whose main entrance is topped by  Sansovino's grand statue of the Bishop of Fermo who was to become Pope Sixtus V. Now it is home to the Municipal Art Gallery, boasting valuable paintings of the Venetian and Marche schools and the "Nativity" by Rubens, and the Sala del Mappamondo (Hall of the Globe), taking its name from the world map drawn by the cartographer Moroncelli of Fabriano in 1713; the building also houses the archaeological section "From the Villanovians to Piceni"; further remarkable palaces surrounding the square are: the Palazzo degli Studi, housing the town library "Spezioli" with 400.000 volumes, and the Apostolic Palace, built in 1532 as the residence of the Governors and of the papal legates. Fermo's pride is also the prestigious "Teatro dell'Aquila", a fine example of eighteenth century architecture.  Also worthy of note are the underground piscine romane (roman pools) which comprise thirty magnificently preserved underground chambers built between 41 & 60 BC to conserve and purify the town's water supply, and regarded as the finest example of their kind in Italy. Climbing up Girfalco hill, you reach the 13th century Romanesque-Gothic Cathedral, with its richly decorated interior and fine rose window. You cant' miss: the Church of San Francesco, which houses fragments of frescoes by Giuliano da Rimini; the church of San Domenico, rebuilt in 1233 on the area where once stood the church of St. Thomas of Canterbury; the Church of St. Agostino, decorated with nice frescoes by Giotto's school.
The most famous local products are: caciotta, a top quality cheese made from both ewe and cow's milk; ciauscolo ( soft cured pork) and vin cotto (sweet "cooked" wine). The frustingo is the typical Christmas cake. It is made with dried figs, raisins, almonds, walnuts, cooked wine, flavored with cocoa, coffee, rum, grated orange and lemon peel, candied fruit and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. The most imnportant event taking place in Fermo is the feast of the Assumption, celebrated on August 15. During the summer period the Piazza del Popolo plays host to Fermo's music festival featuring some of the world's finest performers, as well as outdoor markets.

The Civic Art Gallery is located in Palazzo dei Priori, built in 1296 and seat of the municipality. The building was restored in the first half of the 15^th century and completed in 1525; it has a double staircase in the middle of the room and the bronze statue of Sixtus V, made by Accursio Baldi in the 14^th century. The Civic Art Gallery was first set up in the rooms of the Civic Library and then in its current location in 1981.

The spa is about 2 km far from the hamlet of Torre di Palme. Here there’s a spring of medium mineral bicarbonate alkaline water which is called “Acqua Palmense del Piceno”. It’s used as a drink in the nearby spa for the treatment of metabolic disorders.

It’s a pleasant taste and it can be easily digested because it’s very light. It must be drunk slowly, with an empty stomach, for about 15- 20 days. The spa has been opened in 1950, about 50 years after the discovery of the water spring.

The spa will not open in the year 2017.