What is San Severino Marche known for?

Fifteenth-century painters Lorenzo and Jacopo Salimbeni were born here; their works decorate the Duomo Vecchio chapel and San Lorenzo in Doliolo. 224-meter elliptical square in the lower city surrounded by porticoed colonnades, one of the largest civic spaces in the Marche. Romanesque-gothic cathedral consecrated 1304 on Monte Nero, on the site of the 944 cathedral, with a fourteenth-century bell tower.

Where is San Severino Marche?

San Severino Marche is a comune in the province of Macerata, Marche region of Italy, about 70 kilometers from Ancona.

Marche · Macerata

San Severino Marche

A two-level town where a 224-meter elliptical piazza in the lower city looks up at the Smeducci tower and Salimbeni-painted churches on Monte Nero.

70 km / 43 mi

Nearest hub (Ancona)

11,881

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Bandiera Arancione

Why come

San Severino Marche sitsin the Potenza valley, fifty kilometers southwest of Ancona and split between two centers. The medieval Castello, on Monte Nero, holds the 40-meter Smeducci tower, the Duomo Vecchio consecrated in 1304 in Romanesque-gothic on the site of a 944 cathedral, and the surviving ring of city walls. The lower city, the Borgo, is built around Piazza del Popolo, a 224-meter elliptical square surrounded by porticoed colonnades, one of the largest open civic spaces in the Marche. The fifteenth-century Salimbeni brothers, Lorenzo and Jacopo, were born here and decorated the Duomo Vecchio's chapel and the Church of San Lorenzo in Doliolo with frescoes that mark the height of late gothic painting in the region; their works and a Vittore Crivelli polyptych now sit in the Pinacoteca Civica Tacchi Venturi inside Palazzo Manuzzini. The Smeducci dynasty governed the town through the fourteenth century, the period of its greatest cultural growth.

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Gallery

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Known for

Piazza del Popolo
224-meter elliptical square in the lower city, surrounded by porticoed colonnades, one of the largest open civic spaces in the Marche.
Duomo Vecchio
Romanesque-gothic cathedral on Monte Nero, consecrated 1304 on the site of a 944 cathedral, with a fourteenth-century bell tower and the chapel that held the Salimbeni Saint John cycle.
Torre degli Smeducci
Forty-meter medieval tower on Monte Nero, the surviving symbol of the Smeducci dynasty that governed the town through the fourteenth century.
Pinacoteca Civica Tacchi Venturi
Civic gallery inside Palazzo Manuzzini, holding Lorenzo and Jacopo Salimbeni works, a Vittore Crivelli Madonna and Saints polyptych and the recovered Duomo Vecchio frescoes.
Chiesa di San Lorenzo in Doliolo
Romanesque crypt-church on Monte Nero, holding a fifteenth-century fresco cycle attributed to the Salimbeni brothers.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the working months for San Severino Marche. The Potenza valley turns green from April, the climb to the Duomo Vecchio holds its best light through the autumn afternoons, and the Palio dei Castelli on the second Sunday of June fills both city centers with neighborhood processions. July and August touch the low thirties; the elliptical Piazza del Popolo offers shaded porticoes through the hottest hours and the lower city empties between four and seven. November through March is cool and quiet, with the Pinacoteca Tacchi Venturi open on shorter winter hours and the upper Monte Nero often photographed in valley fog.