The Roman gate of the Via Flaminia
On the Adriatic coast south of Pesaro, Fano is a lively seaside town with an important history: the Roman Fanum Fortunae, the "temple of Fortune", stood at the point where the Via Flaminia, the great consular road from Rome across the Apennines, reached the Adriatic coast. Its symbol is the Arch of Augustus, the monumental gate of the city built by the emperor Augustus in 9 AD, when he surrounded the town with walls: a gate with three arches, one large central one for vehicles and two smaller ones for pedestrians, in white stone, which originally had an upper gallery, destroyed in 1463 during a siege, which can still be seen in a relief on the façade of the nearby church of San Michele.
The town also preserves long stretches of the Roman walls and of the medieval and Renaissance walls, and the city centre has interesting monuments, such as the Palazzo della Ragione, the Malatesta Courtyard, with the civic museum, and the Fontana della Fortuna. According to the Roman architect Vitruvius, author of the famous treatise "De Architectura", he designed a basilica in Fano, the only building he claims to have built himself, whose location is still being sought by archaeologists. Fano is famous for its Carnival, considered the oldest in Italy, documented since 1347, during which the floats throw tons of sweets and chocolates to the crowd, a tradition called "getto". The town is also known for the "brodetto alla fanese", a fish soup with tomato and vinegar, and for its long beaches, the Lido and Sassonia.
Tip: visit during the Carnival, bringing a bag for the sweets; taste the brodetto in the restaurants near the port.
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