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FABRIANO
The name of this beautiful
locality that border on the Umbria
region seems to derive by Faberius, owner of a property in
roman age.
Fabriano instead rose thanks to
the barbaric invasions of Goths leaded by Alarico and Longobards
leaded by Desiderio. It seems that in 411 d.C the
Roman inhabitants of Attidium (Attiggio) running away by invaders
founded the first nucleus of Fabriano: the Castelvecchio Castle
(subsequently erected in 800 a.D.).
The two castles Castrum
vetus and Castrum novum, original place of the
city, passed in the Longobard Reign until
the invasion by Charlemagne who determined
its end (773). The Middle Ages saw then the
fusion of the two castles (1000) and expansion of the defensive
system with the construction of a new town-walls building,
towers and castles. In 1234 Fabriano became
Comune knowing a period of development both in arts
and trades. Subsequently it knew the fights between Guelfi
and Ghibellines for the power and became lordship of the Ghibelline
family Chiavelli (1378) until 1435 when it
passed to Sforza family for few years and finally to tthe
Church (1444) that it kept it for centuries till the date
of September 16th 1860, date that marked
the passage of Fabriano to the Reign of Italy with a plebiscite.
Fabriano is an art city and it demonstrates it with its intact
medieval aspect made of alleys and ancient walls and through
the presence of its most famous monuments: the splendid Palazzo
del Podestà (1255) and the Fountain Sturinalto
(1285), the San Francisco Loggia (1450) and the Cathedral
of San Venanzio, that keeps numerous baroque paintings,
l'Ex ospedale di Santa Maria del Buon Gesù.
Sadly many monuments do not conserve anymore their original
structure but are XVIII cent. remakes followed to the big
earthquake happened in 1741.
Fabriano links its image in Italy to the production
of the paper illustrated inside the Museo della
Carta (Paper Museum). The art of production of the paper
arrived from Damascus (1264) but it was only thanks to the
techniques of improvement discovered in Fabriano that the
product soon spreaded all over Europe giving importance to
the medieval city and well-being. After a period of decline
Fabriano paper mills flourished again in XIX century thanks
to the Peter Miliani's work.
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