Palazzo dei Priori

In the charming neighborhood of Fermo, the winding streets of via degli Aceti are lined with traditional brick clay pavers and stately palaces, creating a picturesque setting for exploration, along this historic thoroughfare, visitors encounter the late-medieval entrance to the expansive Roman cisterns, a testament to the city’s ancient engineering prowess. Dating back to the end of the 1st century B.C., these underground cisterns are among the largest in Italy, spanning an impressive 2200 square meters, originally designed to address the city’s water needs, the complex system efficiently collected and redistributed rainwater to various parts of Fermo, through three tanks strategically positioned at different elevations, including one beneath via degli Aceti. The remaining cisterns, known as the Small Cisterns, are slightly smaller in scale but offer equally fascinating insights into ancient water management practices. With their barrel-vaulted ceilings and opus signinum wall coverings, these underground chambers provide a glimpse into the architectural ingenuity of the past, a visit to the Fermo Roman cisterns is a truly immersive experience, offering a rare glimpse into the city’s history and engineering prowess. Remarkably well-preserved, these underground chambers served various purposes over the centuries, even providing shelter during the Second World War, exploring the cisterns is a journey through time, where visitors can admire ancient architecture and discover poignant remnants of the past.

Nestled inside is the Globe Room, where a splendid treasure lies: the Globe crafted through abbot Amanzio Moroncelli in 1713, throughout his tenure because the cosmographer to Queen Christine of Sweden. This marvelous globe boasts widespread dimensions, measuring 5.68 meters in circumference and 1.85 meters in diameter. Its wooden framework, masterfully built by means of Filippo Morroni of Fermo, is enveloped in a protecting made from Fabriano paper. Of precise fascination is its cartographic precision, imparting a comprehensive depiction of the arena as known at that time. The sizeable expanses of the seas are embellished with difficult illustrations of fish, marine creatures, legendary figures, and duration ships, along ornate gildings and inscriptions. The Globe observed its way to the library in 1782, proficient by means of Giuseppe Ignazio Morrone, who had safeguarded it within his domestic till then. In addition to this magnificent globe, the library houses an array of different cartographic treasures, along with nautical maps, botanical illustrations, and geographical fashions, at the side of a famend pilot e-book relationship lower back to the 17th century.