From our pleasant agriturismo it was about 50 minutes by car to the charming town of Jesi, birthplace of the great medieval monarch Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (1194-1250), a man who was both German and Sicilian, and who represented the cultures of both West and East. We approached Jesi from the north and saw the town in the distance, on a hill, surrounded by fields and clumps of trees. Three towers protruded proudly above the other buildings of the town: that of the Duomo, that of the former church of San Floriano and that of the Palazzo della Signoria.
View of Jesi.
Centre of Jesi, with the towers of the Duomo, San Floriano and Palazzo della Signoria.
It was quiet in Jesi, and we had no trouble at all finding a spot for our car in the free parking garage Parcheggio Mercantini. Although we were eager to take out our Bradt travel guide and explore the centre of town, we decided to first climb a small hill just north of that centre for a visit to the church of San Marco. The church dates from the second half of the thirteenth century. It was heavily restored in the nineteenth century and is known for its wonderful fourteenth-century frescoes from the school of Rimini, which were possibly painted by Giovanni and Giuliano da Rimini. The large fresco of the Crucifixion in the apse has suffered from discoloration, but otherwise it seems to be in good condition. The frescoes at the end of the right aisle have been partially repainted in the nineteenth century. The church and adjacent convent are now used by Carmelite nuns. You can ring the doorbell at the convent if you find the doors of the church closed. In a separate post I will discuss the church of San Marco in greater detail.
After our church visit we returned to the town centre and arrived at the Piazza Federico II. Here we naturally visited the Duomo of Jesi, also known as the cathedral of San Settimio. Of the original Romanesque cathedral, of which the construction started in 1208, virtually nothing survives. In the eighteenth century, the Duomo was completely rebuilt in Baroque style, while in the nineteenth century it was provided with its current façade. The most interesting artworks in the building were already present in the old Duomo: two marble lions from the thirteenth century, the Renaissance tomb of a bishop and a number of paintings. More religious art can be found in the free Museo Diocesano, which is also situated on the Piazza Federico II. I will dedicate a separate post to the Duomo and Museo Diocesano.
It was now about time to become more acquainted with Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, who was born in Jesi on 26 December 1194 as the son of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, and Constance of Sicily, posthumous daughter of the Norman king of Sicily, Roger II. Frederick was born in the central square of Jesi, right in front of the cathedral. His mother had pitched her tent there to bring her child into this world. She was already forty years old – very elderly by medieval standards – and wanted the matrons of Jesi to witness the birth, so that no one could later claim that the baby of another woman had been put in her arms. The rest is history. Frederick too became King of Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor. He spoke multiple languages fluently, was on friendly terms with both Jews and Muslims and showed great interest in arts and sciences. In the Museo Federico II, a multimedia museum on the square, we can learn more about the life of this extraordinary man, who died in 1250. In a separate post you can read more about him.
Palazzo della Signoria.
We had already noticed that Jesi has a stretched yet narrow historical centre. We now walked between the medieval walls towards the southwest and arrived at the next square, the Piazza Angelo Colocci. This piazza was named after the cleric and humanist Angelo Colocci, who was born in Jesi in 1467. Colocci got a position as secretary to Pope Leo X and served as bishop of Nocera Umbra between 1537 and his death in 1549. The most important building on the Piazza Angelo Colocci is the Palazzo della Signoria, already mentioned above. It was designed by the architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1501) and built between 1486 and 1551. The original tower of the building, designed by Andrea Sansovino (ca. 1467-1529), collapsed in 1657 and was only partly rebuilt. Inside the palazzo we find the Biblioteca Planettiana, which has been opened to the public.
We continued our walk in Jesi and arrived at the third square, the Piazza della Repubblica. Here a market was held, which unfortunately obstructed the view of the Teatro Pergolesi. After Frederick II and Angelo Colocci, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736) is the third famous inhabitant of Jesi to be mentioned in this post. Regretfully this talented composer and musician died young, but his name and work live on. In 1883 the council of Jesi decided to name the eighteenth-century theatre of the town after Pergolesi. The left part of the theatre also houses the local tourist office, where we got a warm welcome from the polyglot employee and were handed some useful information about churches, museums and restaurants. And that happened to be exactly what we wanted to do in Jesi in the time we had left: visit another church, admire art in a museum and get a good meal somewhere.
Piazza della Repubblica with the Teatro Pergolesi.
The church we chose to visit was that of San Giovanni Battista along the Corso Giacomo Matteotti. This church is of course dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, and it is Saint John whom we see in the relief above the sole entrance. The relief is one of the very few decorations of the façade of naked brick, which was completed in 1678. We do not know how old exactly the church itself is, but in any case its history goes back to the thirteenth century. The San Giovanni Battista was rebuilt in the sixteenth century, while in 1659 it was granted to the Oratorians, followers of Saint Filippo Neri (1515-1595), nicknamed the Apostle of Rome. It was the Oratorians who were then responsible for a renovation that gave the church its splendid Baroque interior. Among the interesting works of art in the San Giovanni can be counted stucco decorations by Tommaso Amantini (1625-1675), an altarpiece of the Immacolata by Giacinto Brandi (1621-1691) and a fourteenth-century fresco of Jesus Christ which is known as Sangue Giusto, “Righteous Blood”. The fresco dates from 1333 and is attributed to Pietro da Rimini, or perhaps rather the school of Rimini. Because it is so weathered and has virtually lost all of its colour, we unfortunately see preciously little righteous blood. The fresco was originally in the church of San Nicolò in Jesi, which also stands along the Corso Giacomo Matteotti.
The most important museums of Jesi, the Musei Civici, are located inside the Palazzo Pianetti. This palazzo was built in the eighteenth century by the local architect and painter Domenico Luigi Valeri (1701-1770). The building itself is worth a visit, if only because of the Galleria degli Stucchi, a Rococo-style corridor that is 76 metres long. Also quite beautiful are the colourful ceiling paintings in the so-called Stanze di Enea of the palazzo. They tell the story of the Trojan hero Aeneas and were painted by Carlo Paolucci (1738-1803) and Placido Lazzarini (1746-1820). The Palazzo Pianetti currently houses three permanent museums, while the building is also used for temporary exhibitions. During our visit the temporary exhibition was about the archaeology of plastic. It told the story of plastic litter that was already several decades old and had recently been dug up. All in all it was an exhibition with a serious message about environmental pollution.
The largest museum in the palazzo is the Pinacoteca Civica and the most important works that we find there are those of Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556 or 1557). Lotto was born in Venice, but he also worked in the Marche during various stages of his life. The Pinacoteca possesses five works of this master, i.e. – in chronological order – a dramatic Deposition from 1512, a two-part Annunciation from 1525 (once part of a polyptych), the Pala di San Francesco al Monte (also known as the Madonna delle Rose) from 1526, Saint Lucia before the judge from 1532 and lastly a Visitation with an Annunciation from about 1535. The five works come from the former churches of San Floriano and San Francesco al Monte in Jesi. In addition to Lotto’s work there is much more to see in the Pinacoteca. The museum for instance possesses two sculpted eagles by Giorgio da Como from the thirteenth century, the tomb slabs of two members of the Ghislieri family (from 1483 and 1528) and a painted terracotta relief by Pietro Paolo Agabiti (ca. 1470-1540). From the church of San Marco, discussed above, comes a part of a fifteenth-century polyptych, featuring the dead Christ supported by two angels. It is a work by Nicola di Maestro Antonio d’Ancona.
More modern work has also found a place in the Pinacoteca Civica. We for instance admired works from (the studios of) painters such as Guercino (1591-1666) and Rubens (1577-1640), a Holy Family by Cristoforo Roncalli (Il Pomarancio; ca. 1553-1626), a Caritas by Carlo Cignani (1628-1719) and a Deposition by Domenico Guidi (1625-1701). Guidi is mostly known as a sculptor and in previous posts I have discussed some of his sculptures, but the Deposition proves that he was an accomplished painter as well (as was his near-contemporary Bernini). One floor up we find even more modern work, in the Galleria d’Arte Contemporanea. Much to my surprise I even found a painting by Renato Guttuso (1912-1987) here, the greatest Sicilian painter of the twentieth century. Guttuso’s canvas featuring the Colosseum dates from 1972.
The former stables of the Palazzo Pianetti provide accommodation to the last museum, the Museo Civico Archeologico. The area of Jesi has been inhabited since the days that the Piceni ruled over the Marche, from the ninth to fourth century BCE. In the next century the Piceni were subjugated by the Romans, and the new rulers certainly left their mark on the region. In the Roman era Jesi was known as Aesis. That name somewhat resembles the Roman name of Assisi, which was Assisium. According to the Italian historian Arnaldo Fortini (1889-1970), a medieval scribe once confused the words ASIS (i.e. Assisi) and AESIS (i.e. Jesi), which led Fortini to claim that Frederick II was not born in Jesi, but in Assisi. It is a funny theory, but very few people take it seriously nowadays. Inhabitants of Jesi will likely take it as an insult, as for them Frederick II is almost a local saint.
Roman Aesis covered the northeast part of the centre of modern Jesi. The Piazza Federico II more or less covers the area where the forum of the town used to be. On the southwest side of the forum a theatre was built, measuring 56.5 by 42 metres. Archaeologists have moreover found traces of streets, floor mosaics and cisterns. Medieval Jesi was roughly built over ancient Aesis, while the southwest part of the town, which lies slightly lower on the hill, arose from the Renaissance era along what is now the Corso Giacomo Matteotti. In the Museo Civico Archeologico we find a number of nice, if unspectacular objects. Many of the items on display are sculptures, such as heads of the first-century emperors Augustus (27 BCE-14 CE) and Tiberius (14-37). Of greater interest is a headless statue of a boy in a toga wearing a bulla, a lucky charm that was supposed to fend off evil spirits. Very realistic is the head of an older Roman woman, with clearly visible bags under her eyes.
Lunch at Gatto Matto.
After so much art, culture and history we felt an urgent need for a (belated) lunch. At the tourist office we had already been warned that many restaurants would be closed. It was, after all, August, and in August many Italians – including restaurant owners – go on holiday themselves. Fortunately we were given a print-out of the restaurants that were open that day. We immediately crossed off McDonalds of course, but Gatto Matto Osteria Pizzeria looked very appealing. We were definitely not disappointed. The basement of the restaurant was nice and cool, and the starters and pasta that the staff served us were excellent. Just looking at the photos makes me hungry again.