San Ginesio is one of the most fabulous hilltop towns in Italy, and one of just eight that have been marked as 'I Borghi Pui Bella di' Italia' (a town of special historic interest and beauty).  There is much history here that for us, is still unfolding.

Here you can see across the Marche countryside to the magnificnet Sibillini Mountains, named after the witch Sybillia who helped people on their way to the underworld.

San Ginesio has architecture dating back to the 1200's, it has seen two plagues and many, many battles.  It was an important city with over 100 churches and it was almost a principality with strong beliefs and powerful leaders.  Nobles lived within the walls protected by their soldiers, whilst the peasants took their chances with dwellings outside the city walls.

San Ginesio took its name from its patron saint, Lucio Ginesio, a Roman martyr, who was an actor, musician, and mime.   He lived under the emperor Diocletian (284-305), who had him decapitated even though he was very dear to him, because after having long mocked the Christians in his performances, he suddenly converted to the new faith. His remains are kept in the Collegiate Church.


History
• 1098: there is documentation on the existence of a large church serving the religious needs of a community whose population is growing rapidly, following the fortification of the settlement.

• 1212: a document speaks of the establishment of a body of Collegiate canons (chapter), a sign of the prosperity and vitality of the administration. The castle becomes a free commune often tormented by internal struggles or wars with neighboring communes. According to historians, by about 1250 San Ginesio reaches a population of 27,000. From the mid-1200s to 1434 the commune is under the rule of the Da Varano lords.

• 1308: the reconstruction of the city walls begins, with eight city gates (today four remain), to provide protection in the ongoing skirmishes, sometimes turning into battles, with Fermo.

• 1450: one faction of citizens favorable to the returning of Da Varano rule sends into exile a rival group of 300 ginesini, who take refuge in Siena. In that town the exiles’ conduct is so exemplary that the Sienese plead their cause before the San Ginesio communal magistrates, who consent to allow them to return.

• 1458: Pope Pius II approves a new municipal order drawn up according to the Sienese model.

• 1828: the people of San Ginesio tax themselves to cover the expenses for applying to the Pope for a promotion to the status of a city, but their efforts are in vain.

Hidden in the Collegiate Portal, the Hand of God Holding the World

Rising in the main square is the jewel of San Ginesio, the Collegiate Church. Its façade is divided into two parts, the lower part being the older and including the magnificent portal (11th cent.) in travertine, with concentric round arches that continue the same architectural rhythm of the narrow columns and pilasters.
Set in a tile in the right corner of the portal is a crude figure, possibly of Lombard workmanship, of the actor saint. Peeping out among the capitals of the portal columns are the head of St. Ginesio on the right, and the hand of the Eternal holding the Sphaera Mundi, the globe of the earth, on the left.

The upper part of the façade is an embroidery of terracotta: divided into five areas equal in width but of different heights, it was built by a German master in 1421, during the last blossoming of the Gothic inserted in the Romanesque tradition. Next to the façade is the Romanesque civic tower with an onion-shaped pinnacle reconstructed in the 17th century.

Gathered in the silence of the majestic church’s interior are examples of art from every period and style. The wooden Crucifix is the one brought by the 300 exiles in 1450 during their return to San Ginesio.

From the Perugino school comes a Madonna and Child with Patron Saint, while the chapels on the right hold works by Federico Zuccari, Pomarancio, Simone de Magistris and other accomplished artists. The crypt is decorated with frescoes painted by Lorenzo Salimbeni in 1406.

From roughly the same period as the Collegiate Church is another splendid Romanesque-Gothic church, built in 1050 and dedicated to San Francesco: the harmonious portal and the apse are the oldest parts, while the neoclassical interior holds excellent works including an intense Crucifixion by the Rimini-Marchigiana school.

Just a few steps away is another very old church (996), that of San Michele, with a beautiful Gothic portal and, inside, a shrine frescoed by Stefano Folchetti, a local painter influenced by Crivelli.

Also from the Gothic period are the castle walls and the remaining porticos from the Ospedale dei Pellegrini (13th cent.), thus named because it gave hospitality and aid to the pilgrims passing through San Ginesio on their way to Loreto or to Rome, almost always on foot. Restored in 1456 57, when the loggia was also added, the building has preserved its Romanesque façade.

Also worth visiting are: the four surviving city gates, various historic buildings, and the churches of San Gregorio, Santa Maria in Vepretis, and Santi Tommaso e Barnaba. But it is the atmosphere of the village, surrounded by panoramas filled with light, that is most enchanting. It is called the “balcony of the Sibillini mountains” for its scenic views, the green all around, and the treasures within.

Taken from borghiitalia.it