Fano Cathedral

The west front is the part that has best preserved its original Romanesque structure, thanks principally to the restoration works carried out in the 1920s. It is tripartite with a pedimented façade (Italian: facciata a capanna). In the two outer sections false loggias are inserted, and in the central section is a portal beneath a round window.^[3]

The interior has three naves or aisles divided by pilasters. Of historic and artistic value is the pulpit, reassembled in the first half of the 20th century from the various elements, which had either been built into the walls in successive reuses, or scattered round the diocese for other purposes. It is composed of marble slabs with Romanesque reliefs, which make up a series of Gospel episodes from the Venuta di Cristo; only the columns are modern.^[4]

There are six side chapels, three on either side. Along the south aisle are the chapel dedicated to Saint Paul; the chapel containing the tombs of the bishops; and the more sumptuous Nolfi Chapel, so called because it was in the patronage of the local noble family of that name, and fitted out in the early 17th century in exuberant Baroque decoration. It contains important canvases by Domenichino depicting episodes from the life of the Virgin Mary. Along the north aisle are the chapels of the Crucifixion, of the Madonna Pellegrina and of the baptistery, in which was baptised on 4 March 1536 Ippolito Aldobrandini, the future Pope Clement VIII (1592–1605).^[5]

In the transept are two further chapels: in the south arm, the chapel of the Saint Protectors, dedicated to two sainted bishops of Fano, Orsus and Eusebius,^[3] shown in a canvas of 1613 by Ludovico Carracci; and in the north arm, the Neoclassical chapel of the Holy Sacrament, which has undergone various interventions over the course of the centuries, resulting principally from an earthquake in 1672, which caused part of the bell tower to collapse on it, and from the German bombardments of the last war.^[5]

In the presbytery are the high altar, which rests on the sarcophagus of Saint Fortunatus; the wooden 18th-century choir stall; and a canvas by Sebastiano Ceccarini (1750), depicting Maria assunta in cielo. To the sides are stained glass windows with representations of the protecting bishop saints of Fano: Paternianus, Eusebius, Orsus and Fortunatus.^[3]

• Fondazionecarifano.it - Studi sul duomo di Fano Archived 2010-02-03 at the Wayback Machine

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43°50′37″N 13°00′57″E / 43.8435°N 13.0157°E / 43.8435; 13.0157