Church of San Fermo

This is an articulated architectural complex consisting of the superimposition of two churches. The lower church, built in the mid - 11th century, rose on the site where Saints Fermo and Rustico (361) were martyred and where, earlier on, popular devotion had resulted in the construction of a votive chapel (5th century) and later a small religious building (8th century). The upper church, begun approximately in the same period, was principally developed in the 14th century when the Benedictine monks who occupied the monastery were replaced by Franciscans (1261): the architectural complex then assumed its present-day form and, in the perfect harmony between Romanesque and Gothic and in pictorial and chromatic contents, provided one of the most important examples of Italian art.

FACADE
Complex and monumental, it is of substantially Romanesque design.

INTERIOR
Upper church It corresponds to the churches of Franciscan type with a single nave and is spacious and extremely interesting owing to its measured spatiality and the works which decorate it.The magnificent wooden keeled ceiling is painted with depictions of the Saints.