What is Servigliano known for?

Bracci's 1772 quadrangle for Pope Clement XIV, a rare eighteenth-century example of Enlightenment urban planning realized on open ground. The old village began sliding into the Tenna valley in 1758 and was abandoned, leaving the new town to be built from scratch four kilometers away. Second World War prisoner-of-war camp on the edge of town, now the Parco della Pace memorial to the Allied internees held here until 1943.

Where is Servigliano?

Servigliano is a comune in the province of Fermo, Marche region of Italy, about 87 kilometers from Ancona.

Marche · Fermo

Servigliano

An eighteenth-century ideal cityin the Tenna valley, rebuilt by papal commission on a 137-by-144-meter quadrangle after the old hill village collapsed.

87 km / 54 mi

Nearest hub (Ancona)

2,171

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Borghi più belli d'Italia

Why come

Servigliano sitsabove the Tenna valley, sixty kilometers south of Ancona. The old hill village began to slide in 1758, slowly enough that the inhabitants had time to abandon it. Pope Clement XIV commissioned the architect Virginio Bracci to build a replacement on the valley floor four kilometers away, and work started in 1772. The new town was named Castel Clementino after the pontiff and kept that name for almost a century until Italian unification restored the older one. Bracci laid it out as an ideal city: a quadrangle of 137 by 144 meters, three gates (Porta Clementina, Porta Pia, Porta Santo Spirito), a cardo and a decumano crossing at Piazza Roma, the Collegiata di San Marco closing the eastern axis. The geometry is still legible from the air. The frazioni in the surrounding hills hold the older Servigliano, the one that slipped.

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Gallery

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Known for

Centro storico (Castel Clementino)
Eighteenth-century quadrangular ideal city of 137 by 144 meters, designed by Virginio Bracci from 1772, with cardo, decumano and three monumental gates.
Collegiata di San Marco
Eighteenth-century collegiate church closing the eastern axis of Piazza Roma, with a monumental bell tower and the relics of San Servigliano and San Gualtiero.
Santa Maria del Piano
Oldest building of the commune, just outside the quadrilateral, built on the foundations of a Roman villa, single nave with seven side altars.
Piazza Roma
Central square at the intersection of the two main axes, framed by the Collegiata, the Palazzo Comunale and the porticoes of the new town.
Parco della Pace
Memorial park on the site of the First World War prisoner-of-war camp PG 59, which held thousands of Allied prisoners until 1943.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the best months for Servigliano. The Tenna valley turns green in spring, the wheat ripens through June, and the autumn light catches the porticoes of the new town across long afternoons. July and August can touch the low thirties; the quadrangle holds the heat, but the surrounding frazioni in the hills stay cooler. The town's biggest weeks fall in late July and August when the Torneo Cavalleresco di Castel Clementino fills Piazza Roma with the four contrade competing in joust and ring-tilt. November through March is quiet and damp, with mist rising off the Tenna and many shops closed midweek.