Eremo di Monte Giove

The Camaldolese Hermitage of Monte Giove stands on a hill above Fano, with views across the coast and the Metauro valley toward the Apennines. Founded in 1608, the complex developed around the community's church, cells and gardens.

Why it matters

The hermitage preserves the history of a Camaldolese community established on the hill in the early seventeenth century. Its buildings were completed by 1627. The site combines monastic architecture and landscape with a history of religious life, study and refuge.

What to notice

The church of San Salvatore, begun in 1741 to designs by Giovan Francesco Buonamici, replaced an earlier church consecrated in 1631. Its octagonal interior includes stucco figures of Benedictine saints, among them San Romualdo by Antonio Corradini, and a Transfiguration by Gian Andrea Lazzarini above the wooden choir. Eighteenth-century furniture survives in the sacristy.

Context and history

The hermitage's library once sheltered books from Fano's Federiciana collection, including Malatesta codices, during the Second World War. Queen Christina of Sweden visited in 1657. The community was expelled during the Napoleonic suppressions and again under the Kingdom of Italy; its library was dispersed, and the monks later returned. A local tradition associates the hill with an ancient cult of Jupiter, though this remains unverified.