What is Fabriano known for?

Fabriano has made paper since 1264, invented the watermark in the twelfth century and is a UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art. 1255 Palazzo del Podestà and the 1285 Sturinalto fountain in white Vallemontagnana stone, a square laid out at the height of Fabriano's medieval wealth. Local fourteenth-century painter whose frescoes in the cathedral's San Lorenzo chapel anchor the Fabriano late Gothic school.

Fabriano is a comune in the province of Ancona, Marche region of Italy, about 62 kilometers from Perugia.

Marche · Ancona

Fabriano

The Italian paper town, making fine watermarked sheets since 1264 and a UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art.

62 km / 39 mi

Nearest hub (Perugia)

28,918

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Infioritalia

Why come

Fabriano sitson the Apennine watershed in inland Ancona province, fifty kilometers from Perugia and the Umbrian border. The town has made paper since 1264, when an Amalfi-style document held today in Matelica recorded paper production here; by 1276 Fabriano was one of the earliest centers of European paper, and the watermark was invented in the local workshops in the twelfth century to countersign sheets. Fabriano is a UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art on the strength of that continuous tradition. The Museo della Carta e della Filigrana occupies a former convent and reproduces the medieval workshops with working vats and watermark molds. Piazza del Comune holds the 1255 Palazzo del Podestà and the 1285 Sturinalto fountain, both in white Vallemontagnana stone. The cathedral of San Venanzio, started in the thirteenth century and rebuilt in 1607-17, preserves a fresco cycle by the local fourteenth-century painter Allegretto Nuzi in the chapel of San Lorenzo.

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Gallery

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Known for

Museo della Carta e della Filigrana
Paper and watermark museum in a former convent, with reproduced medieval workshops, working vats and the largest documented watermark collection.
Piazza del Comune
Main square with the 1255 Palazzo del Podestà in white Vallemontagnana stone and the Sturinalto fountain from 1285.
Cattedrale di San Venanzio
Thirteenth-century cathedral rebuilt 1607 to 1617, preserving the Cappella di San Lorenzo frescoes by Allegretto Nuzi from the 1360s.
Palazzo del Podestà
Built in 1255 in white local stone, one of the oldest surviving civic palaces in central Italy and still a defining building of the square.
Pinacoteca Civica Bruno Molajoli
Civic art gallery with Gentile da Fabriano works, Allegretto Nuzi panels and a collection covering the Fabriano school of late Gothic painting.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the months for Fabriano. The Apennine valley around the town runs green into May, the paper museum and pinacoteca are open without queues, and the surrounding mountains hold their snow into late spring at higher altitudes. July and August touch the high twenties in the valley; the centro storico stays cool in the stone-paved streets. Fabriano's Palio di San Giovanni Battista runs in late June, with the four neighborhoods competing in medieval trades and crafts including paper making. November through March is the quiet, often cold season, with the museums still open, fog common in the valley and snow on the Apennine passes that close the town's western road links.