The church of Santa Maria Nuova, originally dedicated to San Salvatore, is a place of worship in the historic centre of Fano, at the end of via Giovanni de Tonsis.
What to see
The original parish church of San Salvatore has medieval origins; in 1518 it was granted to the Observant Friars Minor, who had fled their out-of-town convent of Santa Maria Nuova di San Lazzaro because of the vexations of the Della Rovere troops who besieged Fano in 1517. The friars rebuilt it, giving it its present form; the church was then altered in the eighteenth century and underwent heavy restoration in 1959, after the devastation of the last world war, with the collapse of the bell tower and damage to the presbytery. Since 1962 it has hosted every year the Santa Maria Nuova Organ Festival.
Outside, the chief interest is a fine Renaissance portal, under an airy portico, the work of Bernardino di Pietro da Carona of 1498, originally made for the church outside the walls abandoned by the friars. The interior has a single large nave and a deep presbytery decorated with eighteenth-century stuccoes. On the third altar on the right is the Pala di Fano, a panel by Perugino of 1497 with the Madonna and Child enthroned and Saints Mary Magdalene, Paul, Peter, Francis and John the Baptist, with a lunette of a Pietà: it is considered one of the artist's masterpieces, and the sources do not rule out that a very young Raphael also had a hand in it, as in the predella. In the apse is a fine wooden choir by Antonio and Andrea Barili of Siena, of 1484-1489, partly remade after the damage of the last war. On the left side, at the second altar, is an Annunciation, another panel by Perugino, of 1489, and at the first a Visitation by Giovanni Santi.
Visiting
The church is at the end of via Giovanni de Tonsis, in the historic centre of Fano. The sources consulted give no opening hours or visiting arrangements: check them.
Our editors' tip
On either side of the high altar stands the Mascioni pipe organ of 1959, with fully electric action, with 2952 pipes and 79 stops on three manuals: the church hosts an organ festival every year.
