Monsampietro Morico

Monsampietro Morico is the capital of a small municipality that is part of the new province of Fermo (from which it is 25 kilometers away) and has about 591 inhabitants. It stands on a hill 289 meters above sea level in the middle valley of the Ete Vivo River. Monsampietro, which offers a wonderful panorama and very interesting urban views, is a happy example of the many urban centers that dot the Marche countryside. Everywhere there is a building to admire (Palazzo Polimanti is exceptional), a painting to appreciate, a curiosity to note. Three kilometers from the capital, there is the hamlet of Sant’Elpidio Morico, which can be spotted from afar thanks to the two bell towers that tower above the facade of its monumental church “presso le mura.” Monsampietro Morico has a very ancient origin, since the first settlements date back to the time of the Picenes, one of the most important pre-Roman Italic peoples who progressively civilized the Italian peninsula from the central territories. They founded numerous settlements in the mid-Adriatic hills, proving to be outstanding surveyors as well as good merchants, skilled craftsmen and brave warriors. In December 1971 in Monsampietro Morico a very rich tomb of a Picenum woman dating back to the 3rd century B.C. came to light in the escarpment in front of the Church of the Madonna del Carmine. C. Probably in Roman times there was nearby a structure with the function of controlling the territory and its road system. In fact, in this place passed the Roman road connecting the Salaria “Ascoli-Cluana” and the city of Falerio Picenus. According to tradition, the castles of Monsampietro Morico and Sant’Elpidio Morico, together with that of Monte Rinaldo (Morico), are said to have been founded by Malugero Melo, son of Drogone d’Altavilla, a Norman count of Apulia. After his father’s death in 1051, Malugero Melo allegedly fled with his mother Portia and came to the Fermano area. Also according to tradition, he had married a certain “Morica” by whom he would have three sons-Peter, Elpidio and Rinaldo-for whom he would erect, around 1061, the three castles named Monsampietro Morico, Sant’Elpidio Morico and Monte Rinaldo Morico. The first official documents on the history of our various castles date from the early fourteenth century, when the castle of Sant’Elpidio Morico fell under the jurisdiction of Fermo, followed shortly after by the castle of Monsampietro Morico. From that period, “our castles followed the fortunes of the city of Fermo until the period of Napoleonic rule, when Sant’Elpidio Morico was aggregated with Monteleone di Fermo, losing its autonomy for the first time (which it regained in 1815). A few years after the unification of Italy, Sant’Elpidio again lost its status as an autonomous municipality and, after a brief interlude of annexation to Monteleone di Fermo, in 1893 it was definitively aggregated with the municipality of Monsampletro Morico, initiating an association that is now more than centuries old. Recent studies by Prof. Giovanni Rocchi have partly modified this tradition. The so-called Maugero or Malugero Melo (Michele) would be none other than Manuzzello (diminutive of Ermanno), son of Drogone Normanno who fled Apulia and was welcomed in the Fermano area. The young Manuzzello was certainly commissioned by the bishop of Fermo, Hugh of Remiremont, to restore the castles in our area, around the year 1071.

Moreover, the most recent studies have ascertained that Sant’Elpidio Morico would not be the present hamlet of Monsampietro Morico so named. This would in fact be Sant’Elpidiuccio, an additional castle to those already mentioned In this small locality in 1407 the last inhabitants of the real Sant’Elpidio Morico, an Oppidum, located between Sant’Elpidiuccio and Monsampietro Morico, near the present contrada Portella, would have moved, along with the parish. As for the adjective Morico, it would derive from the wedge-shaped urban plan (see lat, murex, muricis) not already from a supposed consort “Morica.”

Monuments, churches

• Romanesque Church of S. Paolo, a national monument, built around 1000. It is traditional that it was built on the ruins of a Roman temple. In the opinion of experts, it is one of the best preserved Romanesque monuments in the area.
• Church of S. Pietro e S. Antonio Abate, there is a painting by painter Francesco Fiorelli depicting Sant’Antonio abate. The apse houses a wonderful fresco depicting Madonna della Misericordia.
• Church of San Francesco
• Church of Madonna del Carmine, in December 1971 a very rich Picene woman’s tomb dating back to the 3rd century B.C. came to light in the escarpment in front of the church. It houses a painting of Madonna del Carmelo, an object of popular devotion, and a 16th-century fresco by an unknown hand.
• Beniamino Gigli Theater
• Medieval castle (Sant’Elpidio Morico), founded in the 11th century, several times remodeled over the years. It still retains defensive features and the large hinges on which the castle gates were set. Admire the panorama from Piazza Malugero Melo, with the view sweeping from the middle Tenna Valley to Fermo and the sea.
• Church of Madonna del Carmelo (Sant’Elpidio Morico), houses the triptych by Vittorio Crivelli, brother of the famous Carlo, executed in 1496. Two side panels were later added (perhaps in 1659). The triptych, of great artistic value, depicts the Madonna with Saints (including S Emidio), and is surmounted by a lunette depicting the Madonna.
• Town Hall, preserves a triptych of a Madonna and Child between Santi Pietro e Sebastiano, dated 1537.