Monte San Pietrangeli

The base of the cinerary urn of the Roman aquilifer Caius Vezzio Fusco dating back to 46 B.C. attests to the fact that there must have been a settlement nucleus in our municipality since that time. Documented history begins with 720 when Faraoldo Duke of Spoleto donated a large plot of farmland in our municipality to the monks of Ferentillo (Terni).

The monks equipped, reclaimed, cultivated the land and built an imposing city wall, so much so that the municipality was transformed into a castle, with the name Monte San Pietro. During the time of the Seigniories Monte San Pietro passed from the “protectorates” of the Cathedral of Fermo to Azzo d’Este, then to the Municipality of Fermo with which it had increasingly turbulent relations. To subjugate the indomitable castle, in 1443 Francesco Sforza besieged it, but was defeated because he was caught between two fires: the entrenched Gaivano army and the Ventura Captain Piccinino attacking it from outside.

The victory of the small municipality caused such a stir that it was celebrated throughout the Marca. A few years later Fermo thought fit to avenge the deed by completely destroying San Pietro degli Agli (as it was then called). Pope Paul III severely punished Fermo by removing the municipality from his jurisdiction. Hence the name was changed to Monte San Pietro degli Angeli.

From freedom from Fermo came the prosperity of the municipality: the town was rebuilt with a good urban planning criterion, and after the last war the municipality went from a predominantly agricultural economy to an artisan economy, thanks in part to the development of a considerable shoe-making business that brought prosperity to the workers.

Monuments, Churches

• Statue of Luigi Fontana (1827-1908) painter born in Monte San Pietrangeli
• Franciscan complex dating back to the 11th century with cloister and church
• Civic tower with interior frescoes dating back to the 14th century
• Little Church of the Desolate Madonna, dating back to the 18th century and frescoed by Monsampietrian painter Oscar Marziali
• Church of Madonna del Buoncuore
• 19th-century Collegiate Church designed by Giuseppe Valadier in neoclassical style and frescoed by Luigi Fontana
• 17th-century Town Hall with paintings by Fontana and containing archaeological and archival artifacts such as several papal scrolls from the 14th-17th centuries, a cinerary urn from the 1st century B.C., the original 15th-century town charter, antiphonaries from the 13th century.
• Multipurpose Culture Center “San Giovanni,” on ancient small church in Umberto I Square, now a cultural center and municipal art gallery where the Polyptych attributed to Giuliano da Fano and dating back to the early 16th century is preserved.