Marche · Macerata
Macerata
The provincial capital between the Chienti and Potenza, home to Italy's oldest university and the Sferisterio open-air opera arena.
Known for
SFERISTERIO
The 100-meter neoclassical open-air arena built in 1823, the only such structure in Italy and the seat of the Macerata Opera Festival every July and August.
UNIVERSITY 1290
Founded in 1290 and recognized by Niccolò IV, one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe, with roughly 11,000 students today.
CRIVELLI AND LOTTO
Works by Carlo Crivelli and Lorenzo Lotto hang in the Musei Civici and in churches across the centro storico, from a strong fifteenth and sixteenth-century Marche school.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Oct
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
The festa: Giuliano l'ospitaliere, 31 August
Why come
Macerata sits on a hilltop between the Chienti and Potenza valleys, thirty-five kilometers south of Ancona. The Roman Helvia Recina stood on the plain below; after the city was destroyed by the Goths the survivors moved up to the present site, where the town grew into the provincial capital. The University, founded in 1290, is one of the oldest in continuous operation in Europe.
The Sferisterio, the city's signature monument, is a 100-meter neoclassical arena designed by Ireneo Aleandri in 1823, originally built for pallone col bracciale, the bracelet-ball game once played across central Italy. From 1921, when Verdi's Aida was first staged there, it became one of Italy's principal open-air opera venues. The Macerata Opera Festival runs through July and August.
The provincial museum holds works by Carlo Crivelli, Lorenzo Lotto and Antonio Canova. The 2016 earthquakes damaged outlying frazioni but the centro storico held.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Macerata’s letter yet.
One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.
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What to see
Sferisterio
Neoclassical 100-meter open-air arena designed by Ireneo Aleandri in 1823, originally built for pallone col bracciale, now seat of the Macerata Opera Festival since 1921.
Università di Macerata
Founded in 1290, one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe, with its main rectorate on Piazza della Libertà.
Piazza della Libertà
Main square of the centro storico, holds the Loggia dei Mercanti, the Palazzo del Comune and the Torre dei Tempi with its astronomical clock.
Musei Civici di Palazzo Buonaccorsi
Civic museums in an eighteenth-century palazzo, with the Pinacoteca, the Museo della Carrozza and the Galleria Eneide of Persio Flacco.
Duomo di Macerata
Eighteenth-century cathedral with an unfinished brick facade, holds the relics of San Giuliano, patron saint of the city.
Helvia Recina
Remains of the Roman city on the plain below the centro storico, with the foundations of a theater destroyed by the Goths and abandoned in the sixth century.
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Living here
- Population 40,496
- A local hubi
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest airport Ancona / Pescara, 1 h 1 min drive
- Regional capital Ancona, 58 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
- Città della Terra Cruda
The numbers
- Elevation: 315 m
- Population: 40,496
- Surface area: 92.53 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Close by
More towns near Macerata
Montecassiano
Province: Macerata
A walled hill borgo at 188 meters north of Macerata, holding the seven-meter terracotta altarpiece Mattia della Robbia fired in a kiln built in town.
Montelupone
Province: Macerata
A walled hill borgo at 272 meters above the lower Potenza valley, with a fourteenth-century civic loggia and a 1889 horseshoe theatre.
Recanati
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The hill town at 296 meters where Giacomo Leopardi was born in 1798 and wrote L'Infinito looking over the Musone valley toward the Adriatic.
Morrovalle
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A hilltop borgo at 247 meters above the Chienti valley, holding a 1560 Eucharistic Miracle from the burning of its Franciscan convent.
Treia
Province: Macerata
A Macerata hill town at 342 meters, the Roman municipium Trea, renamed by Pope Pius VI in 1790 after centuries as Montecchio.
🥾 Città della Terra Cruda
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