Osimo

Osimo is situated on the hills between the valleys of Aspio and Musone, 18 km from Ancona. It is an ancient town, surrounded by medieval and Roman walls. The historic centre has churches and noble palaces from the seventeeth/eighteenth-centuries. During the Byzantine time it belonged to the maritime Pentapoli and was a very important centre. It became a free town in 1100 and was dominated by Malatesta and Sforza. .The Roman ruins of the walls (III-II BC) and the water garden Fonte Magna (I century BC), the church of S. Marco with a canvas by Guercino and the church of San Nicolo with its fourteenth-century gothic portal, the Sanctuary of S. Giuseppe da Copertino (XIII century, transformed in the XVIII century) with connected convent and cloister, the Cathedral of S. Leopardo – founded in the VIII century, but restored many times afterwards – with many antiquities like sarcophaguses, saints relics, medieval sepulchre and the Palazzo Vescovile. The Palazzo Campana (XVIII century) was originally a boarding school but now holds the Civic Art Collection.The Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art in Osimo is situated inside the Baptistery of the Cathedral. The Civic Art Collection is inside the Palazzo Campana. Through the town hall it is possible to visit the International Accordion Museum and inside Palazzo Mondini is the Renaissance Museum with relics from the historic battle. Worth a visit is the Antique Arms Museum.