Visit Fermo

With that je ne sais quoi typical of such ancient, noble, and proud cities, Fermo is a delight for travelers. Whether for a few hours or a few days, this alluring city in the Marche region doesn't disappoint its visitors. 

Culture and beauty have always been banners of its rich and fascinating history. Dense with artistic and natural points of interest, it exerts a magnetic attraction that contaminates the entire province. 

Here is what you need to know about Fermo. 

Fermo seems almost like an old-fashioned lady. The city boasts a charm earned throughout the centuries with grace and vivacity. There is no escape: to meet her is to feel irresistibly attracted. You just have to play her game of seduction and let yourself be enveloped in a warm and exuberant atmosphere. 

The Renaissance urban layout is a constellation of aristocratic palaces, churches, courtyards and squares, where contemporary-style clubs, restaurants and bars pops up at every corner. 

Its Piazza del Popolo is probably one of the most beautiful squares in the region. Nevertheless, Fermo has plenty of arrows in its bow. Starting with a stately location on Colle Sabulo, a hill that dominates the wide and varied landscape of the region. You’ll see it in the distance, towering with its Duomo in the typical sweet and rounded silhouette of the most classic Italian scenarios. 

Fermo's prosperous geography spans from the sea, with the beaches of the Adriatic just eight kilometres away, to the dramatic hinterland. 

The surroundings are an exciting discovery. In the province of Fermo, you'll find many picture-postcard villages and towns dotting the hills up to the slopes of the Sibillini mountains. 

Such a vast territory cannot but be perfect for varied outdoor activities, with trails suitable for trekking, mountain biking or horse riding. 

The sea, which on this stretch of coast is ideal for sailing, windsurfing or kiting, is a few minutes' drive from the hilltop centre. Locations such as Lido di Fermo, Casabianca and Marina Palmense are excellent for enjoying moments of relaxation. 

The city of Fermo, in Le Marche, is perched 320 metres high on the Sabulo hill. Easily reachable by car or bus and with the nearest airport in Ancona, it's in an excellent position to experience all the beauty the region offers. 

The coast is only a few kilometres from the centre. At the same time, the surrounding territory is a continuous succession of nature trails and attractive cultural spots.

This peculiarity of a place immersed in diversity makes the city of Fermo an ideal destination for anyone—it's easy to experience the holiday you have in mind, whatever it may be.  

The 8,200 kilometres of golden sand and white pebbles on the coastline touch Blue Flag resorts with beaches suitable for those travelling with children and four-legged friends. 

Sandwiched between the countryside and the Adriatic, Fermo shares a constant succession of natural and civil landmarks, ancient villages, archaeological parks, abbeys and castles. Evidence of a thousand-year history.

The city of Fermo has ancient origins. The first settlements around the Sabulo hill date back to the 9th century BC. 

Wandering around, you can easily guess some of the past events that affected the area. For example, the Roman Cisterns, the remains of the old theatre, and the Castellum Firmanorum tell of the time when Fermo was a Roman colony.

Likewise, in an ideal walk through the history of this city, you bump into the court of Amalasuintha, mother of Ostrogothic king Athalaric. You become acquainted with the ancient administration of duces and iudices desired by the emperor Justinian. One learns that the Episcopate initiated a massive evangelisation of the countryside in the 5th century; witnesses the passage of the Lombards; and learns that in the 10th century the foundations were laid in Fermo for the current Marche Region. 

A university town since the 16th century, the seed of culture was actually planted in Fermo much earlier. At least in 825, when King Lothair founded a prestigious studium that was the first university of the Duchy of Spoleto.

A free municipality since 1199, it was ruled by Venetian consuls and podestà, popes and lords of the most powerful families of Medieval and Renaissance Italy. Each left marks still visible today through streets, churches and palazzi. If you know how to read it, Fermo will reveal its past steeped in an intense and alive history. 

After a long period of political unity with its long-time rival, Ascoli Piceno, Fermo became a province again in 2004.