Archaeological Itinerary

In 2018, an archaeological excavation identified four main phases in the evolution of the area currently occupied by the square. Until the construction of the original building of the Church of San Nicolò in the 12th century, the area was likely suburban and used for agriculture. This is evidenced by a channel, possibly linked to a drainage system, a pit, and three small wells used towards the end of the Early Middle Ages.
In the 12th-13th century, a small burial ground was established in association with the place of worship, sharing its East-West orientation. This change in the area’s use is indicated by thirteen graves that cut into the pre-existing structures. They are oriented the same way as the smaller, original 12th-century building of the Church of San Nicolò: ten follow the long side and three face the facade. The absence of grave goods did not allow for a more precise dating of the tombs.
During the 13th-14th century, restoration work took place on the church, which was renovated in the Gothic style. Evidence of this phase includes numerous holes, a lime-mixing pit, and other pits used for embedding wooden three-legged lifting machines (“sheers” or “gin poles”), all pointing to construction activities. These works led to a lowering of the external walking surface and the reduction of the burials, which were intercepted in a small deposit.
Subsequent urban transformations during the post-medieval period integrated the area into the neighborhood’s urban fabric, which was clearly already established. The San Nicolò alley was no longer tied to the sacred building, instead taking on a perpendicular orientation to the new alignment of Corso Matteotti. The original layout of the alley is now marked by a boundary wall and a parallel layer of packed gravel. Some of the remains uncovered from a refuse pit (butto) in the square are currently on display at the Archaeological Museum of Jesi and its Territory (Via XV Settembre, 10). These refuse pits were small, unlined wells used for disposing of bones and solid inorganic waste, and today they serve as a direct source of historical information.
The artifacts found in Piazza Pergolesi date from the 8th to the 15th century and include: a common earthenware jug, the nozzle of an oil lamp, an iron blade, a horseshoe, copper-alloy coins, and some faunal remains.

A place of knowledge and exhibition for the archaeological findings recovered from the city of Jesi and its surroundings, the Archaeological Museum serves as a cultural institution of regional significance. The artifacts are displayed in chronological order across three sections, dedicated respectively to Prehistory, Protohistory, and the Roman era. Among the most significant exhibits are the findings from the Picenian civilization of Monteroberto and Castelbellino, alongside Roman-era evidence such as the Campo Boario kilns and the Julio-Claudian statues discovered in Jesi.

Archaeological excavations carried out in 2017 made it possible to reconstruct the urban layout of medieval Jesi’s center and to identify four phases of life in this square.
Between the Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the area was active and used as a quarry for salvaging materials from Roman structures with mosaic-floored rooms (1st century BC – 1st century AD), which were covered by layers of abandonment. Wooden dwellings were also likely located in the area.
Between the 12th and the mid-13th century, two fairly regular rows of terraced houses (16 x 8 m) were built using salvaged materials. They featured a semi-basement that was probably used, at least in part, as workshops; this is evidenced by the discovery of plows, tongs, large iron rings, and casting waste inside one of the rooms. However, it was not possible to determine the exact use of the other spaces on this floor, some of which contained hearths and one with wooden plank flooring. The first floor was likely used for residential purposes, although in one case, the presence of a hearth, a small pit for food storage, and faunal remains suggests that food preparation (boiled boneless meat) took place on the ground floor.
As archival documents show, the area was in all probability occupied from 1248 by the original Town Hall (Palazzo Comunale), along with a series of interconnected walls functioning as fortifications or retaining structures for the existing slopes. In addition, circular, brick-lined pits designed for storing food supplies were uncovered. The terraced houses were razed to the ground, and the entire area was filled in.
The square took on its current rectangular shape at the end of the 15th century, when the Church of Sant’Agostino was set back and the Palazzo della Signoria replaced the original Town Hall. The walls of all pre-existing structures were demolished.
Some of the artifacts discovered in the area occupied by the current Piazza Colocci are preserved at the Archaeological Museum of Jesi and its Territory. These include: a Roman-era tabula lusoria (a gaming board with game pieces); various coins dating from the 11th to the 14th century; a fragment of a bowl and one of a mug, both from the 15th century; and a medieval bronze pin.

The theater was built within the urban area, near the intersection of Costa Lombarda and Via Pergolesi, which correspond to the Cardo and Decumanus Maximus (the main streets) of the Roman city. The planimetric reconstruction of the performance building which unfortunately does not preserve many visible remains was made possible through an integrated study of the wall structures found in the basements and ground floors of modern buildings, combined with the analysis of aerial photographs and housing floor plans. The external semicircular wall (with a radius of 28.25 meters), to which the remains in Via Roccabella belong, featured a continuous masonry wall with four entrances (vomitoria), one of which corresponds to Vicolo Galvani. Masonry analysis has allowed the structure to be dated to the 1st century AD.

Here, on December 26, 1194, under a large pavilion specially erected for the occasion, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen was born.

It is Jesi’s most important historical square, and it is now certain that its space largely coincides with the area of the ancient Roman forum. The square is overlooked by remarkable buildings: the Cathedral (Duomo), the former church and convent of San Floriano now the Teatro Studio and Valeria Moriconi Center the Bishop’s Palace, and several aristocratic palaces dating predominantly from the 18th and 19th centuries.

A Roman-era structure (1st century BC – 1st century AD) consisting of two concentric brick walls separated by an air gap and accessible via a double internal staircase.

It may have been a cistern connected to the aqueduct that supplied the city with water, or a small natatio (swimming pool) linked to a thermal bath complex hypothesized to have stood near the ancient Forum of Aesis (current Piazza Federico II). At the time of its discovery at the end of the 18th century, a sculptural cycle was found inside, consisting of headless statues and portraits of the emperors Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula (1st century AD). They are currently preserved at the Civic Archaeological Museum of Jesi.

Built towards the end of the Early Middle Ages (9th-10th century AD) on the remains of a private dwelling of which a mosaic floor (3rd-4th century AD) is preserved the original Church of San Pietro was renovated in the Gothic style between the 13th and 14th centuries. Belonging to this phase are the arch and the 1294 inscription visible on the side overlooking Costa Baldassini, as well as the remains of frescoes and several tombs in the basement. The portico that once faced the entrance is now incorporated into the external staircase. In the 17th century, part of the church was transformed into a crypt, and in the second half of the 18th century, the entire building was completely renovated.

Porta Valle and the city walls of Jesi (of medieval origin and built along the perimeter of the Roman-era walls) underwent a major renovation in the second half of the 15th century by the architect Baccio Pontelli. To include a water source within the city walls in the southern part of the city, the Municipality decided in 1465 to move the entrance forward by about 10 meters. Even today, the section where the medieval walls abruptly break off is visible, while the gate stands further ahead. During an emergency archaeological excavation in 2007, two sections of Roman-era brick walls were also identified: the first shared the same orientation as the medieval fortification, while the other was oriented SE-NW. It appears to be an example of the mesopyrgos typology, meaning an entrance set back a few meters from the main curtain wall to create a trapezoidal space in front, which was useful during a siege to attack enemies from multiple sides. Examples of this typology in the Marche region can be found in Urbs Salvia and Septempeda.

Located in the area between the historical center of Jesi and the Esino River, it is among the oldest churches in the city.

Founded in the 5th century, the church is the only abbey in the Jesi area that survived the Middle Ages. It currently features a neoclassical style with a single nave, which dates back to a restoration that began in the mid-18th century and completely transformed it.

Throughout its history, the building underwent several modifications, which are particularly visible in the crypt, where remains from various periods are preserved. Among these are a sarcophagus, which represents the oldest evidence of Christian sculpture in the Vallesina area; three tombs, datable between the 3rd and 4th centuries, which suggest that the church was originally a funerary basilica; and a fresco depicting the face of an angel, dating to the 10th-11th century, which is likely all that remains of an Annunciation scene.

In the 14th century, the church was modified in the Gothic style. It consisted of three naves, featured an elevated altar, and had a lower floor level compared to the current building. The 18th-century restoration therefore completely altered its appearance. Even today, embedded within the right wall, the old arches of the nave that was closed off are still visible.

Finally, inside the church stands a granite pillar featuring a 17th-century painting of Christ at the Column, which also shows traces of older layers of paint.

Campo Boario is an area located southeast of Jesi’s historical center and was the site of numerous archaeological discoveries during the last century. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, several burials were uncovered near the Church of San Savino Nuovo, forming part of a single necropolis situated along a Roman road. The grave goods which included a kylix (wine cup) and several oil lamps date the burials to the Late Antiquity period, between the 4th and 5th centuries AD.

During the 1970s, however, the construction of the “Federico II” lower secondary school led to the discovery of a major pottery workshop. Active between the 3rd and the mid-2nd century BC during the early stages of Romanization in this region the workshop specialized in the production of black-gloss ware (the most widespread pottery type of the Republican era). Alongside the workshop, the remains of one or more residential buildings were found, likely belonging to a single, massive domus spanning 2,000 square meters. Some of the rooms, still preserved beneath the school structure, feature floors made of brick tesserae arranged in geometric patterns, datable to the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. Next to these excavations, the remains of the Abbey of San Savino, which are still visible today, were accidentally discovered in 1974. The building was divided into three naves by a series of five pillars. Local historians attributed its foundation to the Goths (first half of the 6th century) and its subsequent restoration to the Lombards (7th-8th century). Later excavations in the 1980s confirmed the early medieval origin of this religious building through the recovery of artifacts dating from the 6th to the 8th century.