Position and climate. Fabriano is one of the largest municipalities in Italy with its 270 square kilometers extension. It is geographically located in a valley surrounded by the Umbria-Marche Apennines chain and the Marche central ridge. Within the municipal boundary, some mountains are higher than a thousand meters. From the Maggio mountain originates the Giano creek that runs through the City, joining, in the hamlet of Borgo Tufico, the Esino River. The eastern border of the municipality is about thirty kilometers from the Adriatic Sea. Fabriano has very cold winters (basically with a continental climate) and hot summers, but mitigated by the nearby sea and the mountains, which create conditions for thermal delta and consequently promote the formation of breezes.

History and culture. Fabriano is a city of ancient origins, probably inhabited since the Prehistoric Era. The first settlement was established by Romans moved gradually by the need to escape the barbarian invasions, beginning with the 409 A.D. From the uplands of Castelvecchio and Castelnuovo, the gradual expansion of the city started and next to agricultural activities could flourish the first workshops, mainly nearby the Market Square, which became the center of social and economic municipal life. The blacksmiths Art was the leader economic organization. Since twelfth century Fabriano definitely lived a period of apparent prosperity; thanks to the Chiavelli’s dynasty. After a short period of subjection to the Sforza authority, Fabriano came under the dominion of the Church. In 1849 it was part of the Roman Republic and in 1860 was annexed by plebiscite to the Kingdom of Italy.

Economy. Fabriano since the thirteenth century acquired the leadership in the art of paper in Italy and in Europe, especially for the processing of the watermarked paper. To Fabriano was also attributed the invention of the hydraulic pile with multiple hammers to prepare the raw material and the technique of fixing the paper with animal gelatin, which increasingly enhanced the art of making paper and of writing. Fabriano developed a strong industry, not only in the paper sector (of some importance the paper mills “P.Miliani" and the "Merloni" factory), despite the effects of the economic crisis in last decade which has also affected this territory. Fabriano, in 2013, has been named UNESCO Creative City for the handicraft and popular arts and traditions section.

Tourism. Fabriano is rich in natural beauty and historical and artistic heritage. It is surrounded by green landscapes and pristine nature that makes a successful example of union between architecture and geomorphology. Fabriano was an important cultural crossroads of ancient origins and traditions that still characterize this area. It is expression of a distant and recent past still visible in the environmental values, in the changing vision of the landscape, in the rural building typologies and the historical city center. To visit the museum of paper and watermark, numerous religious buildings, beautiful palaces, the civic art gallery “B. Molajoli", the museum of bicycle’s crafts, the museum of the historical piano and of sound, the Diocesan museum and the historical pharmacy.

Within the project, the municipality strives for increasing the resilience of its territory to climate change and facilitate the transition to a less energy-intensive and more efficient economy, depending more and more on renewables. Mitigation and adaptation efforts are needed to create appropriate conditions for sustainability in the medium to long term. This strategy is foreseen also through the adhesion and active participation to the European initiative of the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, to integrate the energy and environmental policies in the local vision and action plans. Within the Life Sec Adapt project the municipality also aims at the adoption and implementation of a Sustainable Energy Community development model, supporting the activation of a multi-level governance of the climate variable with the other local and regional authorities, beginning a virtuous cycle of involvement of stakeholders in the planning and implementation process.

I.A.T. Info point for tourism of Fabriano
In civic art gallery “B.Molajoli”
From Tuesday to Sunday 10-13 / 15-18
60044 Fabriano (AN)
tel. 0732 625067 - 848 800819
fax 0732 629791
www.fabrianoturismo.it
iat.fabriano@regione.marche.it