Sistema Museo

The Società Cooperativa Sistema Museo is a company which, through the employment of expressly trained personnel, takes care of supplying specialized services and tasks pertaining to the sound management and the enhancing of the museums’ values and the cultural heritage.

Ours is a systematic point of view whereby the complex valuating policies of the network prevail over the single space.  Our company is set up like a true cultural system in which a large number of capillary tasks and activities, present on the national territory, are constituted in order to form a homogeneous unity of cultural proposals, of itineraries to be visited, of didactical workshops, of specialized professional formation, of informative and editorial support.  For the Company a leading role is covered also by the strong alliance between culture and tourism by trying to create in the territory the plot between traditions, landscapes, historical-artistic and archaeological treasures and food and wine specialties.  That is how the highly specialized trained personnel is ready to welcome tourists of all nationalities and manages to enchant and fascinate them with the natural scenery and leave an indelible mark in their memory.

Initiatives by the Fermo Museums
Fermo, a town soaked in history and of amazing beauty, offers the possibility to its visitors to immerse themselves directly in the features of its territory through visiting its museum structures to undertake a journey in history: starting from the testimonies of the picenum and villanovian civilizations, to then enter into the reality of the Roman architecture with the Roman Cisterns, to then go on to appreciate the admirable artistic works of art of Andrea da Bologna, Jacobello del Fiore, Peter Paul Rubens, Giovanni Lanfranco and many other artists of which the Pinacoteca Civica (Art Gallery) is so rich with.
It is also possible to visit the Sala del Mappomondo (the Globe room), the 18th century fermana Library, seventh in Italy for its historical heritage, which is next to the imposing Teatro dell’Aquila, one of the largest historical theatres in the Marche Region.  For the more curious the splendid setting of Villa Vitali, noble villa of the beginning of the 19th century, where five collection of international and national fame can be found: the Polar Scientific Museum "Silvio Zavatti", the  Ornithological Museum "Tommaso Salvadori", the room of the Meteorite, the collection of Photographic Instruments "Alfredo Matacotta Cordella", the Pipe Museum  "Nicola Rizzi".   Last, but not least in order of importance, overlooking the whole of the town of the gyrfalcon from up on high, the Duomo (Cathedral) dedicated to Our Lady of Assumption, protector of the Town who is celebrated every year on August 15th with the scenic Cavalcata dell’Assunta (the performance of the Knights of our Lady of the Assumption).

Roman Cisterns:
An Architectonical Complex of Augustan times, amongst the largest in Europe, constructed to preserve and distribute the water to the whole Town of Fermo and to its ancient Port. The Cisterns represent an example of great hydraulic engineering and extend over an area of about 2200 square meters, subdivided into thirty perfectly preserved rooms, intercommunicating between each other with imposing whole curved arches and distributed on three parallel rows.  Internally, one can appreciate the technical roman construction characteristics by the accomplishment of the supporting and perimetrical walls, besides being able to understand the functional source of the supply system, the oxidization and distribution of the water characterized by these structures.
Entrance ticket (including a guided visit): Euro 3,00 Adult – Euro 2,00 reduced

Museum Polo of the Palazzo of the Priori:

- Municipal Art Gallery (Pinacoteca comunale): housed on the second floor of the 16th century Palazzo dei Priori, a building that, with its imposing aspect and its external double sided flight of steps, dominates the Piazza del Popolo of the town.  Internally late gothic works of art are exhibited, like the stories of Saint Lucia by the Venetian Jacobello del Fiore, The Crucifixion by Vittore Crivelli, the amazing 17th century works of art like Peter Paul Rubens’ Adoration of the Shepherds and the Pentecost of Giovanni Lanfranco.   Inside on the way around the visit, it is possible to admire the Room of the Globe, the prime public Library of the town accomplished in 1688 by the will of Cardinal Decio Azzolino intimate friend and confessor of Queen Cristina of Sweden.  The imposing manuscript Globe, made by Amanzio Moroncelli, cartographer of the Serenissima, in 1713, really makes a proud exhibit in the room.   The Representative Rooms can also be visited, that are witness even nowadays, through the golden consoles and large mirrors, of the opulence of the 18th century of the Palazzo.

- Archeological Exhibition "Fermo: from the Villanovian to the Picenum times": it hosts archeological finds relating to the Villanovian and Picenum civilizations which can be traced back to the first part of the Iron Age,  discovered in Fermo following thorough excavations.  The exhibition allows us to gain the knowledge of the characteristics of the two civilizations that settled in the town and became a decisive step for the pre-Roman history of the territory.
Entrance ticket: Euro 3,00 Adult – Euro 2,00 reduced (Guided tour in Italian for groups of 30 people: Euro 50,00 and Euro 2,50 for each extra person - Guided visit in a foreign language for groups made up of 30 people: Euro 60,00 and Euro 3,00 for each extra person).

Teatro dell’Aquila (Theatre of Aquila):

The Aquila Theatre, built between 1780 and 1790, represents one of the largest and most prestigious historical theatres in the Marche Region. The restoration project which was finished in 1997 has reestablished the entire ancient splendor to the imposing building.  The presence of precious artifacts like the  chandelier of Parisian origins of golden iron and wood,  the tempera painted ceiling depicting the Divinities of Olympus: a work of art of Luigi Cochetti, the prestigious decorations in golden stucco of the orders, make the theatre a visiting point not to be missed.
Entrance ticket (including a guided visit): Euro 3,00 Adult – Euro 2,00 reduced
 (The possibility of visiting the theatre has to be verified, according to the theatrical activities in program and out of program)

The Scientific Museums of Villa Vitali

Situated outside the walls of the Town, the Scientific Museums are hosted on the inside of the splendid Villa Vitali, built during the first half of the XIX century by a noble family of Fermo.  Inside the Villa it is possible to visit five very specialized and characteristic collections:
The Ethnographical Polar Museum "Silvio Zavatti", unique in Italy to offer to the minute details of the polar environment by exhibiting objects of the Inuit civilization and relics which are witness to the explorations carried out by prof. Silvio Zavatti in these regions.
The Ornithological Museum "Tommaso Salvadori” is an extensive collection of birds which nowadays are extremely rare or extinct.
The "Room of the Meteorite", which preserves the specimen which fell at Fermo on September 25th 1996, third in order of weight among the meteorites fallen in Italy. The collection of photographic instruments, gifted to the Municipality of Fermo by the Tanzanian Ambassador Alfredo Mattacotta- Cordella.
The Pipe Museum "Nicola Rizzi", first municipal Pipe museum in Italy for the number of specimens, just over 700 pipes, mainly collected by Nicola Rizzi, many times champion of the  "slow Smoke" competitions.
Entrance ticket: Euro 2,00 whole – Euro 1,00 reduced (Guided tour in Italian for groups of 30 people: Euro 50,00 and Euro 2,50 for each extra person - Guided visit in a foreign language for groups made up of 30 people: Euro 60,00 and Euro 3,00 for each extra person).

Cathedral

The Fermo Duomo rises up in the most imposing and ancient area of the town, on the Girfalco, (= Gyrfalcon) a characteristic hill which surmounts the town centre. Of Palo Christian origins, destroyed  and rebuilt various times it maintains the elegant gothic structure following the rebuilding carried out by Giorgio da Como in 1227 of the  facade in Istrian stone, scanned by thin pilaster strips and the bell tower, whereas the rest of the building dates back to an intervention carried out in the XVIII  century by Bishop Minnucci.

Diocesan Museum

On the Gyrfalcon, next to the Cathedral, you can find the Diocesan Museum which can testify to the importance of the fermana curia throughout the centuries with admirable works of art being exhibited which come not only from the treasures of the Cathedral but also from the fermano bishop’s palace and from churches in the whole of the archdiocese.  Silver artifacts and church furnishings carried out by excellent craftsmen, sacred canonical robes, amongst which the Casula of Arab art worn by S. Thomas Becket stands out; and the picture gallery with important works of art by artists like Crivelli, Barocci, Maratta, Pomarancio, Giacquinto, Hayez just to mention a few of the works of art which are in the custody of the museum’s treasure-house.

In 2010 the Rete Museale of the towns of Fermo and Sant'Elpidio a Mare was founded. The collaboration is achieved not only with the activation of an integrated museum circuit, through communal opening times and discounts on entrance tickets to the museums of varied ownership, but also through integrated tourist offers, cultural initiatives and communal events, communal promotions and a sole point of access to the information and tourism bookings, brought about with the ticket office of the Fermo museums.

The agreement for Fermo refers to the Polo Museale of Palazzo dei Priori, the Cisterne Romane, the Scientific Museums of Villa Vitali, the Teatro dell’Aquila, the Museo Diocesano, the Cathedral and Oratory of Santa Monica; while for Sant’Elpidio a Mare it refers to the Pinacoteca Civica “Vittore Crivelli”, the Torre Gerosolimitana and the “Cav. Vincenzo Andolfi” Shoe Museum all being included in the project.

The network wishes to be a further opportunity to qualify the services and to really bring back into the lime lights the front stage of so many beautiful wonders, which can be offered as splendid business cards to the many more tourists who chose the Fermano area for their holidays.

For more information contact:
Information Point "Fermo museums" - P.za del Popolo, 5
63900 Fermo

Tel.: 0734/217140
Fax: 0734/215231
Web: www.sistemamuseo.it
E-mail: fermo@sistemamuseo.it

For information about the Cathedral and the Diocesan Museum call: 0734-229350 or 0734/229005