Jesi

In the wine country of the Vallesina, Jesi is a rare Italian city whose medieval shell is almost complete: a fourteenth-century circuit of walls still girdles a centre of Renaissance palaces, opera and art. An emperor was born here in 1194, the composer Pergolesi in 1710, and the town grew into one of Marche’s most confident provincial capitals.

Why visit

Jesi concentrates an unusual amount of first-rate culture behind its walls. The civic galleries hold major Lorenzo Lotto canvases in a Rococo palace with a hundred windows; a Pergolesi theatre still anchors the opera calendar; and the birth of Frederick II of Swabia gives the town a royal pedigree it has cultivated ever since. Because the historic centre is compact and largely pedestrian, a weekend suffices for the museums, the churches and the ramparts — with the vineyards of the Castelli di Jesi an easy detour. It is one of the most rewarding stops in Ancona province for travellers who prefer substance to spectacle.

Character and history

The walls follow the line of Roman fortifications; raised in the fourteenth century and largely rebuilt in the fifteenth by Baccio Pontelli and Francesco di Giorgio Martini, they retain six towers and give the old town its unmistakable profile. Jesi’s proudest memory is the birth of the future emperor Frederick II in December 1194, an event for which the city later received the title of Royal City and which is now marked at Piazza Federico II. The Renaissance left the commanding Palazzo della Signoria, built by Francesco di Giorgio Martini between 1486 and 1498, its courtyard loggias partly redesigned by Andrea Sansovino from 1519. The eighteenth century produced Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, born in Jesi, and the theatre named for him, built in 1790. Today the city balances this inheritance with a lively contemporary programme and the surrounding Verdicchio wine country.

What to see

Begin at the Civic Museums of Palazzo Pianetti, where the archaeological section guards a portrait of the emperor Augustus, the picture gallery displays Lotto’s Madonna delle Rose of 1526 among other works, and a contemporary floor collects Orfeo Tamburi and recent donations. A few steps away stands the Teatro Giovanni Battista Pergolesi on Piazza della Repubblica, the natural home of the composer’s music. The Palazzo della Signoria now houses the Biblioteca Planettiana, a historic public library worth visiting for the building alone. In the Duomo area, the Jesi Cathedral, dedicated to San Settimio, anchors the religious heart of the town, with the Gothic Church of San Marco nearby. Wrap around everything with a walk along the Walls of Jesi, and end at the Piazza Federico II or the Colocci Vespucci House Museum, the residence of the humanist Angelo Colocci. The Teatro Studio Valeria Moriconi honours the celebrated actress born in the city.

How to experience

Jesi is best on foot and by the glass. Walk the ramparts from gate to tower in the early evening, then drift into the centre for an aperitivo under the porticoes. Book ahead if your dates overlap the Pergolesi opera season at the theatre — it is the most atmospheric way to meet the composer on home ground. Allow half a day for Palazzo Pianetti; the Lotto canvases reward slow looking. Devote another morning to the Strada del Verdicchio: cellar doors in the Castelli di Jesi villages pour the wine practically at the vineyard gate, and the municipal tourism site lists routes through the Vallesina.

Practical planning

Jesi lies about half an hour inland from Ancona, reached by the Rome–Ancona railway line (Jesi station is on the Falconara–Fabriano branch) or by car from the A14 at the Ancona Nord exit. The historic centre is almost entirely pedestrian; car parks sit just outside the walls. Museum hours vary by season — Palazzo Pianetti, for example, keeps different winter and summer schedules and closes one day a week — so check the official museum and tourism sites before planning. A weekend from spring to autumn gives the best mix of opening hours, opera and wine events; September is especially busy with the contemporary-art programme.

Nearby places

Within the same province, Ancona offers the regional capital’s port and museums; Loreto its great pilgrimage basilica; Fabriano the paper-mill heritage; Senigallia its beach and Rocca Roveresca; Corinaldo one of Italy’s grandest village walls; Offagna its hilltop rocca; and the Conero Riviera — Numana and Sirolo — delivers the coast, all within an hour.