Castle Carpignano

City to visit: TOLENTINO

The location of TOLENTINO is particularly favourable: it stands in the middle of the province of Macerata, on the left bank of river CHIENTI, 224 metres above sea-level.

 It is surrounded by pleasant hills whose colours are manifold and inimitable. In the distance, the range of the SIBILLINI rises, evoking charming legends about Tannhäuser, Guerrin Meschino and the Sibyl, hidden in the darkness of her cave. 

Due to its central position, TOLENTINO is the ideal centre of gravity between the coastal area and the mountains zone (both mountains and seaside are about 40 kilometres far from the city, and can easily be reached thanks to a very good network of communications). The present population of TOLENTINO is over 20,000.

History
Signs of the first inhabitants of this favorable and fertile coastal zone, between the mountains and the Adriatic, date to the lower Paleolithic.

Numerous tombs, from the 8th to the 4th centuries BCE, attest to the presence of the Piceni culture at the site of today's city, Roman Tolentinum, linked to Rome by the via Flaminia. Tolentinum was the seat of the diocese of Tolentino from the late 6th century, under the patronage of the local Saint Catervo. The urban commune is attested from 1099, assuming its mature communal form between 1170 and 1190, settling its boundaries through friction with neighboring communes like S. Severino and Camerino. From the end of the 14th century, the commune passed into the hands of the da Varano family and then the Sforza, before becoming part of the Papal States until the arrival of Napoleon.

In the city, on February 19, 1797, was signed the omonymous treaty between Napoleon and Pope Pius VI which imposed territorial and economic strictures on the Papacy.

In 1815, at the battle of Tolentino, Joachim Murat was finally defeated by Frederick Bianchi at the head of Austrian forces, to return to Naples and abdication. Tolentino returned to papal control until Italian unification in 1861.

In the late 19th century industrial development decisively linked Tolentino economically to the rest of Italy.

Transportation
Tolentino is about 60 km from the western Flaminia insertion to Rome and 40 km from the Adriatic sea and A14 highway to east: the SS77 highway connects the town to both these state directories. There are bus lines from here to the nearby minor town and villages and a railway leading from Civitanova to Fabriano. The nearest major airport is Falconara (Ancona), about 100 km from Tolentino but linked by highway, and there is a tiny airstrip for ultralight aviation in the town's immediate surroundings.

What to visit

The Basilica of San Nicola, yearly visited by a great number of pilgrims coming from all over Italy and from abroad, dates back to the second half of 13th century. The portal, for which we are indebted to the famous 15th-century soldier of fortune Nicolò Mauruzi, also known as “Il Tolentino”, was build between 1432 and 1435 by the Florentine sculptor Nanni di Bartolo “Il Rosso” (The Red).

The monumental 14th century cloister is made of thirty spans supported by columns of different shapes with Romanesque capitols. On the walls, frescoes representing Saint Nicholas’ miracles, painted at
the end of the 17th century. Inside the Basilica the ceiling in gilded caissons, work of Florentine artists (1620-1630), was a product of the munificence of the Augustinian Giambattista Visconti. The coat of arms of his family, a crowned serpent swallowing a child, is repeated in the spaces between panels. The ceiling is 38,30 metres in length. Among the canvases which can be admired in the Basilica, worth mentioning are the “Visione di Sant’Anna” (Vision of Saint Anna) by Guercino (1640) and the “San Tommaso da Villanova” (Saint Thomas of Villanova), attributed to G. Ghezzi (1663).

The Palazzo Comunale, which ocupies one of the sides of Piazza della Libertà, was built in 1860 to a design by E. Pallotta of Tolentino, who restructured and enlarged the Palazzo dei Priori (Priors’ Palace), originally Palazzo del Podestà (Podesta’s Palace). The Palazzo del Podestà had in fact been moved, in the mid-15th century, to the south side of the main square (what remains of this building can still be seen in the Palazzo Brancadori).

 Inside the Palazzo, the Council Chamber was decorated with frescoes by Pallotta, who is also the author of many of the portraits of illustrious people of Tolentino which can be admired in the Marriage Chamber. In the centre of the ceiling of the Council Chamber we can admire a canvas by Giuseppe Lucatelli of Tolentino, representing the “Three Graces”. As far as the exterior is concerned, the 18th century open gallery which can be seen nowadays replaces the original portico resting on slender columns.

Before the building was restructured, the façade was decorated with images of the Madonna and St Nicholas, as well as with the public clock, which was later moved to the bell tower of the nearby Church of San Francesco.

Build on 1822 by Antonio Podrini of Sant’Angelo in Vado, the clock consists of four faces. Starting from the top, the first indicates the phases of the Moon. It shows the lunar globe as a face which, during its orbit of approximately 29 days and 12 hours, presents its right profile when the moon wanes, the front face when it is full, the left profile when it waxes and hides with the new moon.
To understand the second clock - which indicates the “Italic” time - we must keep in mind that, in olden days, the time was regulated on the basis of the canonical hours (matins, tierce, sext, nones, vespers and compline), associated to variations in the light during the day (it is evident, in fact, that
intervals were shorter during daytime in winter and longer in the summer). 
The pointer of this face makes four revolutions in a period of 24 hours. The number VI indicates successively the middle of the night, dawn, the middle of the day and sunset. The following face is an astronomical clock showing the hours and minutes according to present criteria. Originally this clock had the hour hand only; in recent times the minute pointer was added to enhance the legibility of the display. The fourth face is a calendar which gives the days of the week and the month. At the bottom, we can see a little sundial which was used by the “moderator” to reset the clocks.

The east side of Piazza della Libertà houses Palazzo Parisani, also known as Palazzo Sangallo. This name comes from the architect Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, who build the palace for Cardinal Ascanio Parisani of Tolentino. The building of the edifice, dating back to 1516, was stopped for reasons still unknown, and was completed in 1932 to a design by the engineer Stefano Gentiloni Silveri. 
Till that time the construction was limited to the ground floor and the mezzanine, with ashlar-work decoration.

Palazzo Parisani has the typical configuration of a 16th-century noble palazzo, at least as far as the lower part is concerned, even though the layout of the building clearly show the varying destination of the ground-floor sections: those facing onto the courtyard were residential, while those giving onto the piazza were used for commercial purposes.

The first news about the worship site nowadays known as Church of San Catervo date back to the 11th century, when a “cella Sanctae Mariae” was mentioned in a parchment. In 1256, the Benedictine monks who lived there decided to restore their ancient church collecting offerings from the faithful.

Some elements of that new building have survived: the four lions which now support the sarcophagus of San Catervo in the Saint’s Chapel, maybe part of the “prothyrum”, and a splendid marble lunette with two Archangels and the apostles Peter and Paul, element of the former portal. Entablature bearing the motto Alme Tolentini populum defende Caterve (O generous Catervo, protect the people of Tolentino). 

Of this construction, or of a following one, the Chapel of San Catervo remains, incorporated in the building of the first half of 19th century. The present disposition of the Cathedral is the result of the refurbishing of 1820. In that occasion the “panteum”, the sepulchral monument containing the sarcophagus of Flavius Julius Catervius (6th century), was almost completely demolished. Recent excavations have revealed the ruins which are left, a fresco of Carlovingian times and part of the original flooring.

The church of San Francesco, erected in the Romanesque-Gothic style in about the 13th century, has undergone various transformations in the course of the centuries, particularly at the end of 19th century after the severe earthquake of 1873. In the back part of the vestry, originally apse of the right aisle, we find the very important “Crucifixion” of the Giottesque school of Rimini (14th century) and a number of other frescoes of 15th century. The Church also houses the “Madonna della Colonna” (Our Lady of the Column), a fresco removed from a column of the church of San Giacomo (now church of the Carità). Now conserved in a processional chest, the work is attributed to the Maestro of the Dormitio of Terni. 

Coming from the church of Santa Maria (at present closed due to restoration works) the remarkable statue which goes under the name of “Madonna della Tempesta” (Our Lady of the Storm); the statue, carved on wood covered by polychrome chalk, is one of the finest examples of 14th century sculpture of the Marches.

The Palace Bezzi-Parisani

Palazzo Parisani-Bezzi, which stands in the historical centre of Tolentino, owes its fame to Napoleon Bonaparte, who was housed there in February 1797. On the 19th of that month he signed in one of its rooms the ‘Tolentino Treaty’ with the representatives of Pope Pius VI; this event gave the rooms where he slept and where the document was signed the name of “Napoleonic rooms”. 

This treaty obliged the Pope to yield up to France Avignon and the Legations of Bologna, Ferrara and Romagna, and, according to previous conventions, to pay 21 million francs and surrender 500 codices from the Vatican Library and 100 works of art. The Pontiff deputies were frightened and influenced also by the presence, in Tolentino, of 15,000 French soldiers and by the threat of the Bonaparte to invade the Papal State. Napoleon, to intimidate them, went so far as to tear up several pages of the treaty. In May 1815 Field Marshal Bianchi also, commander of the Austrian troops quartered in Tolentino, stayed in Palazzo Parisani during the battle of “La Rancia” which was fought against the troops of Gioacchino Murat, King of Naples.

The Church of the Sacred Heart has an interesting facade completely in brick. Both the facade and the frescoes of the inside are the work of Luigi Fontana, as well as the shovel representing "the visit of the Sacred Heart in S. Maria Alacoque". On the right wall there is a large canvas of the XVIII century, representing the Madonna between S. Nicola and S. Benedetto; on the left wall, S. Jacinta loan, the tolentinate C. Capoferri.

In the Church has the headquarters of the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, called also "Sacconi" for the Dress of rough fabric that the Brothers hooded use, even today, worn in the "Good Friday procession". The Brotherhood was established in 1805 and had the first place in the church of S. Vito which stood at the convent of Santa Caterina. Only in 1835 was granted the church of S. Benedetto, from which enlargement is the current. Interesting the visit to the Museum of the brotherhood.

The Nicola Vaccaj Theatre was inaugurated on 10 September 1797, despite the fact that it had been finished two years before, in 1795. Due to the unsteady political situation, it was then thought better to postpone its opening; the favourable occasion was offered by the Peace Treaty signed between Napoleon and the Holy See. The original name of the theatre was “Teatro dell’Aquila” (Theatre of the Eagle), from the two-headed eagle which formed part of the family coat of arms of Cardinal Caradini, Prefect of the Holy Congregation of Good Government. It was Cardinal Caradini, in fact, who granted permission to the building of the theatre in 1787. 

The interior of the building was originally frescoed by Giuseppe Lucatelli of Tolentino, who also made the project, while most of the frescoes which can be admired today are the result of a later restoration work made in 1881 by painter Luigi Fontana. Recent restoration (1985) gave the theatre back its ancient splendour. It is in the Vaccaj Theatre that the artists of the theatrical company of La Rancia, which was born here, often stage their performances under the direction of Saverio Marconi, making Tolentino known in Italy and in the whole world.

It is a typical Church Cappuccina, but it is noted for simplicity and elegance is of the outside, both of the interior. The Church's origins the coming of the Capuchins in the territory tolentinate. These religious, have come in Tolentino around the 1539, began the construction in the year 1589, when the noble Laura zampeschi, widow of Alessandro was donated part of its gardens for the construction of the church was consecrated in 1596. 
Only in 1926 was entitled as new parish in ss.crocifisso. Inside, the style is that typical cappuccino of origins, with a single nave with three chapels and altars on one side. The most interesting is the main altar is in carved wood that together the Tabernacle, is the work of two Capuchins (1689). Between the most significant works you can admire an interesting canvas of the Flemish of SEC. XVI, "Christ in the garden". 
The altar-piece represents "the Madonna with Child". This work, considered the conditions, has uncertain powers. In a letter to priori Tolentino Lancillotto in 1604 from mauruzi, was recommended the famous painter Michelangelo Merisi by Caravaggio, guest of the city of Tolentino. For this reason the work was also attached to the renowned painter.

Built above the remains of a Roman temple, in the course of the centuries has suffered various restructuring up to the current Accommodation dating back to 1740.sull' high altar is the image of wooden "Madonna of Storm." The statue, dating to late 1300s, is carved in wood covered with a slight plaster of plaster polychrome: its antiquity and the HAVE THE HONOUR artistic place the work between the copies more interesting of the sculpture Marches. 
In the Church we can also admire frescoes depicting "Madonna with Child and Saints" of the master of dormitio of Terni (sec. XIV), a canvas of the "Immaculate" and the fresco of the "Madonna delle Grazie" of the XVI century, a powerful statue in polychrome wood of the "Christ dead" (sec. (xvii).

Originally dedicated to St. James, the earliest information about it date back to 1233. The original structure was widened around 1421 with the money of Giovanni, Bishop of Camerino, the donations of the faithful and the grants of the Town Council of Tolentino.
In everyday language the Church obtained the name “of the Carità” when, at the beginning of 19th century, it became the seat of the Confraternity of the same name. 

The Church was closed to liturgical worship in 1970, and it is at present used as an auditorium. 
Of great value are the Romanesque portal opening on the façade and the secondary one, surmounted by an ogival arch where tendrils and animal figures of medieval inspiration are intertwined in the Gothic style.

Erected to honour the memory of the Fallen from the First World War, the War Memorial is a work by Angelo Zanelli, the sculptor who also designed the “Altare della Patria” in Rome. 
It is made by a bronze frieze showing the stages and activities of human lifeand, in the centre, a winged Victory swooping down on a plough.
The monument, whose total length is about 50 metres, decorates the former entrance of the stadium, which owes it its name (Stadium “of the Victory”).

The “Ponte del Diavolo”, erected in 1268 to a design by Master Benevegna, is the only one of its kind along the whole flow of the Chienti. It has five arches supported by substantial pylons. Its name derives from a curious legend which links many other bridges “of the Devil” throughout Italy and Europe.

“The Podesta of Tolentino, Leopardo of Osimo, gave Master Benevegna the task of building the bridge. The difficulties he had to face were so hard Benevegna turned to an old woman, who lent him a book of black magic. The builder, seized by despair, went to the triple crossroads of the Fonti di San Giovanni and recited a magic formula. 

A shade appeared to him, and Benevegna recognised him at once as the devil. The devil asked, as a reward for his help in the building of the bridge, the soul of the first that would cross it. Master Benevegna, conscience-stricken for the agreement he had entered, turned to San Nicola, who found a clever way out. The day had been appointed to inaugurate the bridge, which had in the meantime been barred to avoid anyone to cross it, San Nicola arrived with a little dog on a leash. He took a whole cheese from the frock and cast it along the bridge while letting the dog loose. The animal ran after it. The devil, smelling a living being, seized the dog, realising too late he had been tricked since the animal did not have the agreed-upon soul .”

Built in 1142 by the Cistercian monks coming from the Abbey of Chiaravalle of Milan, it is one of the purest and most beautiful examples of Cistercian - Romanesque art in Italy. The Church, which is 72 metres in length, 20 metres wide and 30 metres high, has a nave and two side isles; the nave is very high and divided into eight spans.
The eight pillars, alternately quadrangular and polygonal, are quite characteristic; their Romanesque capitals, which decorate the central nave of the Church, were maybe carved by the monks themselves. The 15th century cloister, the chapter-house and the lay brothers’ refectory are simply magnificent. The vaults of the refectory, perfectly preserved, rest on seven Roman columns with huge capitals taken from the ruins of the nearby Roman site of Urbs Salvia (the modern Urbisaglia). The whole structure of the Abbey of Fiastra, which includes a number of museums also, is surrounded by a wood where many animal and vegetable protected species live (guides available for visits).

A few kilometres far from Tolentino lies, solitary and impressive, the Castle of “La Rancia”. The castle, which can be easily seen from the highway, was built in 1357 by Rodolfo II Varano, Lord of Camerino, on the site of a pre-existing building, a tower-house belonging to a small landowner. Rodolfo Varano’s aim was to build a fortified farm on the model of the Cistercian ones (“grance” from the French grange - “barn, cereal store”) belonging to the nearby Abbey of Chiaravalle di Fiastra. Hence the name “Rancia”.
The keep and few other elements are all what is left of the original medieval building. The Castle of La Rancia, which is a square structure consisting of battlemented wall reinforced by two square corner
towers, was maybe surrounded by a moat crossed by a drawbridge. It has been, over the centuries, the site of numerous battles where many important historical figures took part, such as John Hawkwood, Lucius von Landau, Braccio da Montone, Nicolò Piccinino and Francesco Sforza.
It was also the scene of the Battle of La Rancia between the Neapolitan army of Murat, who wanted to unite Italy, and the Austrians. The battle, which is considered the first battle for Italian Independence, took place in 1815 (2-3 May). This event is commemorated every year at the end of April, when hundreds of figurants come to Tolentino from all over Europe to take part in a successful historical evocation.

The Santa Lucia Spa stands on a hill, just outside Tolentino, about 400 metres above sea-level. It was built in 1936, and with the passing of the years it has gained more and more reputation. The Santa Lucia Spa has recently been equipped with a valued centre of sport and rehabilitation medicine, as well as with a beauty centre. The action of the medium-mineral water, rich in lithium, of the Santa Lucia spring, which is very effective to cure gout, uricaemia, calculosis and inflammations of the urinary tract, is widely aknowledged. Other two kinds of waters are used in the Spa to cure arthropathies, respiratory disorders, rhinogenous deafness and many gynaecological diseases: a sulphurous mineral water and a water containing salts of sodium, bromine and iodine, coming from Rofanello, a few kilometres from the town.

Musei

The Museo Internazionale della Caricatura di Tolentino is the only one of the sort in Italy and between the few in the world. On initiative of Luigi Mari, it was inaugurated on September 1970 the 6. Actually is directeted by Melaton. In the museum there are numerous books, newspapers, catalogues and historical documents along with more than 3,000 works such as cuts, paintings, drawings and sculptures of the greater artists, between which: Leonardo, Augustin Carracci, Daumier, Gulbransson, Galantara, Scarpelli, Maccari, Attalo, Honored, Topor, Nino Za, Longanesi, Searle, Levine, Jacovitti, Mordillo, Fellini, Altan, Garretto, Folon... 

The Bienniale one of Tolentino is one of the little Italian cultural institutions of international character who, from 1961, addresses to the promotion and the spreading of the Caricature and the humoristic Art of every time and country.
Planed and directed from the tolentinate doctor and caricaturistic Luigi Mari. The first edition was carried out from the 10 to the 24 september of 1961.

From then the participation has been increased more and more until catching up in 1999 one representation of 52 nations.
From 1975 the Bienniale one, in order to honor the name of its founder, has instituted the Prize " Luigi Mari ", destined to the best work for the caricaturistic portrate one.

ORARIO di APERTURA
Lunedì chiuso
MAR - DOM
10.00 - 13.00
15.00 - 18.30
per informazioni: tel. 0733.969797
           
Museo Internazionale della Caricatura
Palazzo Sangallo - 62029 TOLENTINO (MC)
Tel. 0733.969797 
Tel. 0733.901365/326 - Ufficio culturale Comune di Tolentino
e-mail: info@biennaleumorismo.org

The conserved materials, archaeological testimony directily pertinent to the most ancient history of the city and to its territory, come for the great part, from the context of nineteenth-century digging and from isolated recoveries of the Council.
Between the material presents is to notice the Amigdala of red flint datable to the inferior palaeolithic, the series of tips of arrow of Neolithics and the “Eneolitihics” and the 16 smoothed stone axes.
From the Necropolis excaveted from 1879 to 1884 and all situated in the years to outside of the current historical center come the more meaningful objects for the history of ancient site, attributable to the Picena civilization, bloomed during the age of the iron from the IX to the III century b.C. in the zone comprised between the rivers Foglia and Pescara and the Appennine section.
The “Rotondo Necropolis”has given back the equipment of VIII century b.C. with fibula to leech, rivet and fibula with nucleus of amber; interesting the equipments of the five graves of the “Bura Necropolis” with stone circles dated to the VII century b.C. between wich fibula to dragon with antennas, pendants and vases of paste; from the Necropoli horse of iron ; from the “S.Egidio Necropolis” equipment of VI – IV century with products of Etruscan import, between which the stamnos of grave 8.
Remarkable also the equipment of the grave said “Door of the Bridge” with bronze Etruscan crockery and a series of handles figured with gentlmen of the horse of local production.
Beautiful the attiche “attiche” ceramics coming from the Settledori Necropolis, to black figures (graves 31 – 40) to red figures (grave 22) the crater to “colonnette” and the Kylix to report to the school of the painter of Pentesilea, fibulas and various ornaments.
Between the sporadic materials from the territory numerous fubulas to leech and pendants of Piceno Type, crockery and bronze crews, a bronze of Ercole with club, a Greek amphora to black figure (Painter near to the group of Leagros of end VI century b.C., one skyphos Greek to black figures and two Etruscan mirrors dated to the 300 b.C.
For the Roman period numerous oil lamp, weights, a “ermetta” in marble, the great marmorea statue of Flavia age, refer to Julia daughter of Tito, recovered in the 1508 in S.Egidio district and a plow of Flavia age with “bucrani” and “encarpo” of leaves flowers and fruits. The lapidarium, rich collection of Latin epigraph belongs to the Civic Museum, for the great part of the I century a.C. that they constitute important testimony of the Roman period of the city.
To these they add some of late-ancient and medioeval age, always from the district of the Common one, between which the relative registration construction of the "Ponte del Diavolo" of the 1268 and a Etruscan stock with registration.

ORARIO di APERTURA
Lunedì chiuso
MAR - DOM
10.00 - 12.30
15.00 - 18.30
per informazioni: tel. 0733.973349
           
Museo Civico Archeologico
Castello della Rancia - 62029 TOLENTINO (MC)
Tel. 0733.973349

Castello della Rancia
+39 0 733 901 325 (Comune) - +39 0 733 973 349
Aperto dal martedì alla domenica dalle ore 10.00 alle ore 13.00 nel pomeriggio dalle ore 15.00 alle ore 19.00

Piazza S. Nicola, 3
+39 0 733 976 311

Aperto tutti i giorni dalle ore 9.00 alle ore 12.00 nel pomeriggio dalle ore 16.00 alle ore 19.00

The museum contains a valuable collection of ceramics from various eras (XVI-XIX SEC.), coming from Marche, Abruzzo, by Officine Senesi, Umbria and Ligurian and keeps a collection of about 400 votive tablets dedicated to San Nicola. The most ancient back to the end of the' 400, the latest at the end of 800. This also an important collection of works of art and valuable paintings.

Natale e Pasqua aperto dalle ore 9.00 alle ore 12.00 nel pomeriggio dalle ore 16.00 alle ore 19.00 ; su richiesta per altri periodi.
Ingresso gratuito

The museum contains material of great historical-artistic concerning the confraternity. Many manuscripts, the Votive lamps, the monstrance and about 3000 immaginette devotional dating from the' 600 today.
 

Basilica di San Nicola
+39 0733 969 996
Built with technical marches in specific craft Augustinian tradition of Tolentino, the crib is built on 100 m2 extension, and 25 m of depth.

Aperto la domenica dalle ore 10.00 alle ore 12.30 nel pomeriggio dalle ore 15.30 alle ore 18.30; aperto dalle ore 10.00 alle ore 12.30 nel pomeriggio aperto dalle ore 15.30 alle ore 18.30; tutti i giorni (Agosto)

Ingresso € 1,03 (cumulativo con Museo della Civiltà Contadina)

The core of the museum is a collection of ornithological about 500 COPIES OF ITALIAN fauna dating back to the first decades of the century. Among the most interesting: the golden eagle, the peregrine falcon and the Lanner.
 

In the historical center of the city, in Via della pace, there is the Palazzo Parisani-Bezzi. rebuilt on a building more ancient in the 17 th century was for many centuries of ownership of the Parisani noble family. The whole stable is newly covered by a complex and full intervention conservative Restoration and renovation work. In fact have been fully recovered all the wide environments of the piano nobile and the premises of the second floor.

Palazzo Parisani-Bezzi hosted different personalities but has become known for having accepted, from 16 to 19 February 1797, Napoleon Bonaparte. The young Commander French, at the end of the campaign of Italy, followed, in yellow hall, with the delegates of the Holy See sent by Pope Pius VI, the Treaty of Peace of Tolentino. Still today it is possible to visit the rooms occupied by Napoleon, with the furniture and its furnishings of the time.

Of particular relevance the small room that preserves the chairs, the console, the mirrors and the small table where he was signed and signed the peace treaty, which still bears the spots of ink, Ink pot more times, reversed during the negotiations by Napoleon. Ironically, Palazzo was-Bezzi has also hosted the first days of 1815 may also the Baron Federico Bianchi, commander of Austrian troops, which defeated, a few weeks before Waterloo, Gioacchino Murat, brother in law of Bonaparte, near the Castle of little, in which historians still called the battle of Tolentino and that is seen as the first clash fought for the unity of Italy. Today as the Palazzo Parisani-Bezzi recovers his vocation museum and next to the salt Napoleonic presents sufficient space to accept shows, exhibitions and events.

Events

The Tolentino 815 Association, in cooperation with the Municipality of Tolentino , organises a historical re-enactment event of the Battle of Tolentino, as occurred the 2 nd and 3 rd of May 1815 between the Neapolitan army of Gioacchino Murat, King of Naples, and the Austrian army led by the Baron Frederick Bianchi; considered by many historians as the first for Italian Indipendence. 

Tolentino was caught at the crossroads of Italian national history: the beginning and end of the french-italian era, between a decline of papal power (Treaty of Tolentino signed on 19 February 1797 between Napoleone Bonaparte and Pope Pio VI ‘s representative) and the origins of the Italian Resurgence or “Risorgimento” (Battle of Tolentino). 

The manifestation held once a year since 1996, is at the Castle of the “Rancia”, and the Tolentino town center, on the first Sunday each May;it alternates between battle reenactmens and a display of historical military groups. 
Reenactement members of historical italian and foreign groups take part with the uniforms, arms and equipment of the age, as they conduct parades, manoeuvres, military drill and simulate the fighting between the armies.

“Tolentino 815” is a unique historical military re-enactment in central Italy. The even interested the others towns involved in the 1815 Battle : Pollenza, theater of ferocius clashes near the Cantagallo hill; Macerata, headquarter of the Neapolitan army; Colmurano, where general Sailliè, aide de camp of king Murat, was captured. 
All is made even more spectacular with a “cavalry charge” of the 2nd Regimento of Lights - Horse Kingdom of Naples 1815 , a historical reenactment group from the 815 Association, and one of the most numerous groups of it's type.

This unique iniziative, is of great national and international value, and can be described as a prime example of “living experimental archaelogy”. 

The purpose is to promote a view of culture and tourisme of Tolentino and the surrounding areas; allowing one to re-live the past and know of it, through exacting historical re-enactment, as true as possible, with addition of spectacle. 
The Tolentino 815 Association deals with various initiatives: conventions, meeting, research and publications; it promotes study travel, encounters and exchanges with orgnanizations and entities, both public and private, italians and foreign. 
The objective is the recovery and fruition of the artistic and historical heritage tied to the events, in order to form a Historical Park of the Battle of Tolentino involving Macerata and Pollenza , and a Museum of the Battle and Arms with a related documentary library Center, a photographic section and a diorama, to the Rancia's Castle. 

The programme of the historical re-enactment , rich and dense of complementary happenings foresees the involvement of seceral Authority, Associations, Firms and principally of citizens, it is concentrated along seven days. 
There are events representing and reenacting a part of XIX century life, in its multiple aspects: art, culture, music, gastronomic and recreational ones. The life of the soldier is reconstructed exactly like it was two hundred years ago: organisation, manoeuvres, arms-drill, parades, ration, patrol service and off duty time. Guided tours to the historical camps and the contact with the reenactors, infuse the public with their passion.

Tolentino's summer - Full calendar 2008

May

14/22 maggio_Quartiere Via Vittorio Veneto - Trento e Trieste - Festa rionale
28 maggio_Teatro Nicola Vaccaj - Saggio dei corsi di Danza classica e Laboratorio di Teatro musicale - Centro Teatrale Sangallo


June

1 giugno_Contrada Rancia - Festa rionale
2/5 giugno_Quartiere Viale della Repubblica - Zona PEEP - Festa rionale
4 giugno_Teatro Nicola Vaccaj - Saggio dei corsi di Recitazione, Danza moderna e Canto - Centro Teatrale Sangallo
10/12 giugno_Quartiere Foro Boario - Festa rionale
16 giugno_Chiesa di Santa Maria Nuova - Concerto d'Organo di Juan Paradell Sole - Associazione Marchigiana Rievocazioni Storiche
16/19 giugno_Contrada Le Grazie - Festa rionale
18 giugno_Piazza Mauruzi - La Festa dei Folli - Animazioni giocose per bambini - Assessorato Politiche Sociali - C.R.E. "Cavallo a dondolo"
19 giugno_Piazza della Libertà - Motoincontro Moto Club Storico "V. Conti"
24/26 giugno_Zona Sticchi - II Festa del Nuoto - Sport & Musica - Associazione Nuoto Tolentino
25 giugno_Castello della Rancia - XXII Festival Cori Polifonici - Coro Polifonico Città di Tolentino
25 giugno_Teatro Nicola Vaccaj - Saggio-Spettacolo Scuola di Danza Energia


July

1 luglio, ore 21.00_Castello della Rancia - Concerto di Fiati "G. Verdi" - Associazione Musicale "N. Gabrielli"
2 luglio, ore 21.00_Piazza San Nicola - XXII Festival Cori Polifonici - Coro Polifonico Città di Tolentino
3 luglio. ore 21.30_Teatro Nicola Vaccaj - Marina Garroni interpreta - "Grazie" di D. Pennac 
4/5 luglio, ore 21.30_Castello della Rancia - "I giganti della Montagna" di L. Pirandello - Saggio del Corso avanzato di Recitazione Centro Teatrale Sangallo
5 luglio, ore 18.00_Basilica di San Nicola - Inaugurazione del Museo del Santuario
6 luglio, ore 21.00_Cortile Liceo Classico - Rassegna Teatrale Pulcinella (commedia dell'arte) Compagnia Iride Falconara
7 luglio, ore 21.30_Piazza Silverj - Concerto corale strumentale "C'era una volta il cinema" Associazione Pro-Schola Cantorum "G. Bezzi"
8 luglio, ore 21.30_Terme Santa Lucia - Pianobar con Marco Salvatori - Serata inaugurale e presentazione del
programma estivo
9 luglio, ore 21.00_Castello della Rancia - 23° Biennale Internazionale dell'Umorismo nell'Arte - Premiazione dei vincitori
Spettacolo sull'Umorismo con Bove & Limardi
10 luglio, ore 21.00_Castello della Rancia - 23° Biennale Internazionale dell'Umorismo nell'Arte - Premio TP per l'Umorismo
Un'ora di divertimento con i migliori spot umoristici dal Festival di Cannes
11/15 luglio_Terme Santa Lucia - Personale di Pittura di Angela Balsamo
13 luglio, ore 21.00_Cortile Liceo Classico - Rassegna Teatrale - Arrivi e partenze (spettacolo per bambini) - Compagnia Teatro Pirata
14-15-16 luglio, ore 21.30_Parco Isola d'Istria - Tolentino Rockers Festival 5th edition in collaborazione con Informagiovani
15 luglio, ore 21.30_Terme Santa Lucia - Mietta in concerto - info: 338.9649834
16 luglio, ore 21.30_Piazzale Risorgimento - Festa rionale del Quartiere Viale Benadduci
18 luglio, ore 21.30_Castello della Rancia - Esteuropaovest festival - Concerto di Guinga & Gabriele Mirabassi
20 luglio, ore 21.00_Cortile Liceo Classico - Rassegna Teatrale Li sordi fa j l'acqua per nzu (commedia dialettale) - Compagnia "La Nuova" di Belmonte Piceno
22 luglio, ore 21,30_Castello della Rancia - San Severino Blues Festival - Concerto di Rudy Rotta & Brian Auger
23 luglio, ore 21.30_Piazzale Risorgimento - Festa rionale del Quartiere Viale Benadduci
23 luglio, ore 21.30_Parco Isola d'Istria - Emergency Rock Festival - in collaborazione con Informagiovani
24/31 luglio_Contrada Bura - Santa Lucia - Trojano Festa rionale
25 luglio, ore 21.15_Chiostro Basilica di San Nicola - "Musica e Arte" Concerto inaugurale in memoria di David Bradshaw Istituto Musicale Vaccaj
26 luglio, ore 21.15_Chiostro Basilica di San Nicola - "Musica e Arte" Concerto vocale del soprano Claudette Peterson Istituto Musicale Vaccaj
27 luglio, ore 21.15_Chiostro Basilica di San Nicola - "Musica e Arte" Concerto del pianista Nohah Goldstein Istituto Musicale Vaccaj - in coll. con Associazione Musicale D. Silverj
28 luglio, ore 21.30_Terme Santa Lucia - Luca Di Risio in concerto - info: 338.9649834
29 luglio, ore 21.15_Chiostro Basilica di San Nicola "Musica e Arte" Concerto del pianista Daniel Epstein Istituto Musicale Vaccaj
30 luglio, ore 21.15_Piazza Silverj - "Musica e Arte" Concerto del Coro femm. da camera "Le Muse" Istituto Musicale Vaccaj
31 luglio, ore 21.15_Piazza Silverj - "Musica e Arte" Concerto di Ensemble di Sax Istituto Musicale Vaccaj


August

1 agosto, ore 18.30_Auditorium San Giacomo - Concerto finale dei corsi "Musica e Arte" Istituto Musicale Vaccaj
20/28 agosto_Centro Storico - Dono dei Ceri a San Nicola XII edizione - Associazione Rievocazione Storica Dono dei Ceri
27 agosto, ore 21.30_Centro Storico - Serata con il cabarettista N'Duccio - Comunità Montana Monti Azzurri
27 agosto_Centro Storico - Raduno dei marchigiani fuori regione
28 agosto_Centro Storico - Fierantiqua


September

3/11 settembre_Ponte del Diavolo - Centro Storico - Sul Ponte del Diavolo... tra storia e leggenda XIII edizione - Ass. Ponti del Diavolo - Com. C.da Pianciano Ributino
10/18 settembre_Basilica di San Nicola - Festa del Perdono nel VII Centenario della Morte di San Nicola
16-17-18 settembre_Via Ozeri - Tolentino Arte XV edizione 
25 settembre_Basilica di San Nicola - Proclamazione di San Nicola Patrono della Comunità Montana dei Monti Azzurri
25 settembre_Centro Storico - Fierantiqua



July 14-15-16/21-22-23/28-29-30 - August 4-5-6
Terme Santa Lucia, ore 21,30 - Pianobar con Marco Salvatori e i suoi ospiti