Jesi () is a ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' (municipality) in the

province of Ancona The province of Ancona () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Marche region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Ancona, and the province borders the Adriatic Sea. The city of Ancona is also the capital of Marche. To the north, the province ...

, in the

Italian region The regions of Italy () are the first-level administrative divisions of the Italian Republic, constituting its second NUTS administrative level. There are twenty regions, five of which are autonomous regions with special status. Under the Con ...

Marche Marche ( ; ), in English sometimes referred to as the Marches ( ) from the Italian name of the region (Le Marche), is one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. The region is located in the Central Italy, central area of the country, ...

. It is an important industrial and artistic center in the floodplain on the left (north) bank of the

Esino The Esino (; ) is a river in the Marche region of central Italy. Geography The source of the river is east of Monte Penna, in the province of Macerata, near the border with the province of Ancona. The river flows east past Esanatoglia and curve ...

river, before its mouth on the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

History

Jesi (Iesi) was one of the last towns of the

Umbri The Umbri were an Italic peoples, Italic people of ancient Italy. A region called Umbria still exists and is now occupied by Italian speakers. It is somewhat smaller than the Regio VI Umbria, ancient Umbria. Most ancient Umbrian cities were sett ...

when, in the 4th century BC, the Senones Gauls invaded the area and ousted them. They turned it into a stronghold against the Piceni. In 283 BC the Senones were defeated by the Romans. Jesi in 247 BC became a ''colonia civium romanorum'' with the name of ''Aesis''. During the fall of the

Western Roman Empire In modern historiography, the Western Roman Empire was the western provinces of the Roman Empire, collectively, during any period in which they were administered separately from the eastern provinces by a separate, independent imperial court. ...

, Jesi was ravaged by the troops of

Odoacer Odoacer ( – 15 March 493 AD), also spelled Odovacer or Odovacar, was a barbarian soldier and statesman from the Middle Danube who deposed the Western Roman child emperor Romulus Augustulus and became the ruler of Italy (476–493). Odoacer' ...

(476 AD) and again in 493 by the

Ostrogoths The Ostrogoths () were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Western Roman Empire, drawing upon the large Gothic populatio ...

Theodoric the Great Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal, was king of the Ostrogoths (475–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy between 493 and 526, regent of the Visigoths (511–526 ...

. After the Gothic War, Italy became part of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

, and Jesi became one of the main centers of the new rulers, and a diocese seat. In 751 it was sacked by the Lombard troops of

Aistulf Aistulf (also Ahistulf, Haistulfus, Astolf etc.; , ; died December 756) was the Duke of Friuli from 744, King of the Lombards from 749, and Duke of Spoleto from 751. His reign was characterized by ruthless and ambitious efforts to conquer Roman ...

, and later was a

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...

imperial city. Since 1130, it was an independent commune, gradually expanding its control over its surrounding agrarian region. In December 1194 the future Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II was born here:Norwich, John Julius. ''Byzantium: The Decline and Fall'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf), p. 162 he later made Jesi a "Royal City". In the 14th century it was captured by the

Papal The pope is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the pope was the sovereign or head of sta ...

vicar Filippo Simonetti, then by

Galeotto I Malatesta Galeotto I Malatesta (1299–1385) was an Italian condottiero from the House of Malatesta who was lord of Rimini, Fano, Ascoli Piceno, Cesena and Fossombrone. Biography Born in Rimini, he was the son of Pandolfo I Malatesta and the brother of Mal ...

(1347–1351), by Braccio da Montone in 1408, and 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 of Milan, duke from 1450 until his death. In the 1420s, he participated in the ...

, who turned it into his family's main stronghold in the Marche. In 1447 Jesi was bought by the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...

Main sights

Religious buildings

duomo ''Duomo'' (, ) is an Italian term for a church with the features of, or having been built to serve as a cathedral, whether or not it currently plays this role. The Duomo of Monza, for example, has never been a diocesan seat and is by definitio ...

built in the 13th-15th centuries. The façade and the Latin cross interior are modern. *San Floriano: 18th century convent. *San Marco: Gothic, 13th-century church just outside the old city centre. The interior has a nave and two aisles, with a 14th-century fresco by an anonymous Rimini painter. *Santa Maria delle Grazie: 15th-century church with 17th-century belltower. *San Nicolò: 13th-century church with Romanesque apse and a Gothic portal.

Secular buildings

*The 14th century walls, built following the line of the Roman ones and mostly rebuilt in the 15th century by Baccio Pontelli and Francesco di Giorgio Martini. Six towers remain today. *Palazzo della Signoria, built in 1486–1498 by Francesco di Giorgio Martini. The angular tower was elevated in 1661 and received a dome, but crumbled down a few years later. Notable is the interior courtyard, with two orders of loggias, partially designed by Andrea Sansovino from 1519. *Palazzo Balleani, an example of local

Baroque architecture Baroque architecture is a highly decorative and theatrical style which appeared in Italy in the late 16th century and gradually spread across Europe. It was originally introduced by the Catholic Church, particularly by the Jesuits, as a means to ...

, built from 1720 and designed by Francesco Ferruzzi. The façade has a characteristic balcony supported by four atlases (1723). The interior has precious gilded stucco decoration. * Palazzo Pianetti:

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

palace. The wide façade has exactly one hundred windows, while the interior has a noteworthy '' giardino all'italiana''. The palace houses the city's civic art gallery, with a series of paintings by the Venetian artist

Lorenzo Lotto Lorenzo Lotto (c. 1480 – 1556/57) was an Italian Renaissance painter, draughtsman, and illustrator, traditionally placed in the Venetian school, though much of his career was spent in other north Italian cities. He painted mainly altarpie ...

. *Palazzo Ricci, finished in 1547. The diamond-like bricks of the façade are inspired to famous Palazzo dei Diamanti in

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

. * Teatro Pergolesi, built in 1790.

Notable people

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (, , , ; 26 December 1194 – 13 December 1250) was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 and King of Jerusalem from 1225. He was the son of Emperor Henry VI, Holy Roman ...

* Giancarlo Alessandrini * Giuseppe Balducci, composer * Alice Bellagamba * Dionisio Cimarelli *

Angelo Colocci Angelo Colocci (; 14671549) was a papal secretary of Pope Leo X, a romance Philology, philologist, and a Renaissance humanist. He assembled a large collection of antiquities in his villa beside the Aqua Virgo. Life Colocci was born in 1467 at I ...

* Elisa Di Francisca * Giancarlo Falappa *

Virna Lisi Virna Lisa Pieralisi (; 8 November 1936 – 18 December 2014), known as just Virna Lisi, was an Italian actress. Her international film appearances included ''How to Murder Your Wife'' (1965), ''Not with My Wife, You Don't!'' (1966), ''The Secre ...

* Antonio Magini-Coletti * Roberto Mancini *

Valeria Moriconi Valeria Moriconi (née Abbruzzetti; November 15, 1931 – June 15, 2005) was an Italian actress who appeared both in movies and on stage. Biography Valeria was born in Iesi, in Marche, central Italy. Her earliest work was as a stage actress. Sh ...

* Giovanni Battista Pergolesi * Paolo Polidori *

Rafael Sabatini Rafael Sabatini (29 April 1875 – 13 February 1950) was an Italian people, Italian-born British writer of novels, writer of romance novel, romance and adventure novel, adventure novels. He is best known for his worldwide bestsellers: ''The Sea ...

* Gabriele Tinti * Giovanna Trillini * Valentina Vezzali

International relations

Jesi is twinned with: *

Lucera Lucera (Neapolitan language, Lucerino: ) is an Italian city of 34,243 inhabitants in the province of Foggia in the region of Apulia, and the seat of the Diocese of Lucera-Troia. Located upon a flat knoll in the Tavoliere delle Puglie, Tavoliere ...

, Italy (since 1970) *

Mayenne Mayenne ( ) is a landlocked department in northwest France named after the river Mayenne. Mayenne is part of the administrative region of Pays de la Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Manche, Orne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, and Il ...

, France * Waiblingen, Germany *

Galați Galați ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the river Danube. and the sixth-larges ...

, Romania (since 2003)

References

External links

Thayer's Gazetteer
{{authority control Cities and towns in the Marche