Esanatoglia is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in the

Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

History

According to the legend,

Esus Esus, Hesus, or Aisus was a Brittonic and Gaulish god known from two monumental statues and a line in Lucan's '' Bellum civile''. Name T. F. O'Rahilly derives the theonym ''Esus'', as well as ''Aoibheall'', ''Éibhleann'', ''Aoife'', and ...

, the Celtic God of war, would be the origin of the name of the Esino river, on whose shores a town, ''Aesa'', is presumed to have been founded in

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

. The current name Esanatoglia was given in 1862, from a combination between Aesa and Anatolia, replacing the medieval ''Santa Anatolia'', which in turn was derived from

Saint Anatolia Saints Victoria, Anatolia, and Audax ( it, Sante Vittoria, Anatolia, e Audace) are venerated as martyrs and saints by the Catholic Church. Victoria and Anatolia are mentioned (without Audax) in the Roman Martyrology under the date of 10 July. Anat ...

, a 3rd-century Christian martyr. The first known document referring to Santa Anatolia dates from 1015, concerning the foundation of the monastery of Sant’Angelo by Conte Atto and his wife Berta. The monastery became soon the most important religious establishment in the area. The city was ruled by the Malcavalca until 1211, when they were succeeded the Ottoni di Matelica. Three years later, and for three hundred years, the

da Varano The Da Varano was an Italian noble family who had an important role in the medieval and Renaissance history of central Italy, as rulers of Camerino and other lands in the Marche and Umbria. Overview The family is first mentioned in the 13th c ...

family hold the city. Under the da Varano Santa Anatolia maintained a certain autonomy: the first collection of statutory norms dates from 1324. The citadel remained immune from wars and pillages until 1443, when it was conquered by

Francesco I Sforza Francesco I Sforza (; 23 July 1401 – 8 March 1466) was an Italian condottiero who founded the Sforza dynasty in the duchy of Milan, ruling as its (fourth) duke from 1450 until his death. In the 1420s, he participated in the War of L' ...

. The monastery of Sant'Angelo and its library did not escape the devastation. In 1502 it became part of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

Main sights

* Eremo di San Cataldo; formerly part of a hermitage, now a

guard tower A guard tower is any military tower used for guarding an area. These towers are usually operated by military personnel, and are structures built in areas of established control. These include military bases and cities occupied by military forces. ...

of medieval origin, located at the top of the mountain facing the city. * Eremo di San Pietro di Esanatoglia; formerly a hermitage atop a steep mountain side. * San Martino: 13-14th-century church located in the city's center * San Sebastiano *

Santa Maria Maddalena The Santa Maria Maddalena is a Roman Catholic church in Rome, named after Saint Mary Magdalene. It is located on the Via della Maddalena, one of the streets leading from the Piazza della Rotonda in the Campo Marzio area of historic Rome. It is th ...

: baroque church *Fountain of San Martino (possibly from the 12th century). In 1534 it was re-built by order of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese *Sant'Andrea Gate

People

Carlo Milanuzzi Carlo Milanuzzi (c. 1590 – c. 1647) was an Italian composer of the early Baroque era. Life Carlo Milanuzzi was born in Santa Natoglia, or Esanatoglia in the Marche region, to Milanuzzo and donna Felice, probably around 1590, but not after ...

, composer of the early

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

era

References

External links

Official website

BellAesa - La Bella Esanatoglia on the web

Eremo San Cataldo

Memorial for the Fallen of War

I Borghi piu Belli d'Italia

Corsi di parapaendio e voli in tandem sul Monte Gemmo, Esanatoglia
{{authority control Cities and towns in the Marche