The Arch of Augustus in
Fano (in the
Province of Pesaro and Urbino) is a
city gate
A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. It is a type of fortified gateway.
Uses
City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods ...
in the form of a
triumphal arch with three vaults. It is the entrance to the city by the
via Flaminia
The Via Flaminia or Flaminian Way was an ancient Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to ''Ariminum'' (Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans had ...
, which became the inside of the wall of the
decumanus maximus. It is one of the symbols of the city.
History
In the
Roman period
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
it was the principal gate of Colonia Julia Fanestris, a
colonia established in the town of Fanum Fortunae (temple of
Fortuna) by the Roman architect
Vitruvius at the command of the Emperor
Augustus, in commemoration of the victory over the
Carthaginian The term Carthaginian ( la, Carthaginiensis ) usually refers to a citizen of Ancient Carthage.
It can also refer to:
* Carthaginian (ship), a three-masted schooner built in 1921
* Insurgent privateers; nineteenth-century South American privateers, ...
general
Hasdrubal Barca in the
Battle of Metauro during the
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...
.
It is presumed that at least two other (now lost) gates existed in Fanum Fortunae, one to the south and the other near the sea.
Constructed at the point at which the
Via Flaminia
The Via Flaminia or Flaminian Way was an ancient Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to ''Ariminum'' (Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans had ...
met the ''
decumanus maximus'' of the city, the monument is dated to AD 9 by means of an inscription located on the frieze, with large characters carved in the rock which were once gilded in
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
. The inscription reports:
The arch was later rededicated by the Emperor
Constantine I
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterranea ...
with a new inscription on the
attic
An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...
which is now lost, but the earlier inscription was not erased.
[Silvio De Maria, ''Gli archi di Roma e dell'Italia romana'', Roma 1988, pp.242-243.]
In 1463, during the siege of the city in order to expel its lord
Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, the artillery of
Federico da Montefeltro, destroyed the attic of the monument. The fallen fragments were reused in the construction of the adjacent church and
loggia of
Saint Michael. The original appearance of the gate is recorded in the
Renaissance bass relief carved on one side of the facade of the church.
Description
Faced with ''
opus quadratum'' from blocks of
Istrian stone
Istrian stone, ''pietra d'Istria'', the characteristic group of building stones in the architecture of Venice, Istria and Dalmatia, is a dense type of impermeable limestones that was quarried in Istria, nowadays Croatia; between Portorož and Pu ...
, the monument consists of two minor lateral arches and a larger central arch; the
keystone of the latter is decorated with an image of an animal, which is no longer recognisable but which most probably depicted an
elephant. The main body, still well preserved, supported a large
attic
An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...
which is now lost, with a
Corinthian pseudo-portico, in which there were seven arched windows separated by eight pseudo-columns. The whole monument has many stylistic similarities with the Augustan gates of
Spello,
Aosta and particularly with
Authon in
Provence.
See also
*
List of Roman triumphal arches
References
Bibliography
*P. M. Amiani, ''Dissertazione critico-lapidaria sopra l'antico Arco di Fano innalzato dall'Imperatore Cesare Augusto'', Fano 1772.
*A. Aleandri, ''Memoria istorica sull'Arco d'Augusto esistente in Fano'' da "Raccolta di opuscoli scientifici e filosofici" tomo XLI, Venezia 1785.
*G. Colucci, ''Delle antichità di Fano della Fortuna'' in "Antichità Picene", IX, Fermo, 1790.
*P. Mancini, ''Illustrazione dell'Arco di Augusto in Fano'', Pesaro 1826.
*L. Poletti, ''Intorno all'Arco di Augusto in Fano'' in "Giornale Arcadico di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti", XXXIV, Roma 1827.
*W. B. Clarke, ''Sull'Arco di Augusto di Rimini e sulla porta di Fano'' in "Annali dell'Istituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica", XIII, for 1841 (1842), pp. 116–120.
*F. Poggi, ''Origini e antichità di Fano'', Fano 1895.
*L. A. Richmond, ''Commemorative Arches and City in the Augustean Age'', in "Jur. Rom. Stud.", XXIII, 1933.
*F. Frigerio, ''Antiche porte di città italiche e romane'', Como 1935.
*P. C. Borgogelli-Ottaviani, ''Fano e le sue vestigia romane'' in "Atti e memorie della Dep. di Storia Patria per le Marche", Ancona 1941.
*R. Weiss, ''L'Arco d'Augusto di Fano nel Rinascimento'' in "Italia Medioevale e Umanistica", III, Padova 1965.
*G. Berardi, ''Fano romana-Basilica di
Vitruvio'' Fano 1967.
*Adolfo Gandiglio, ''Carmen in Arcum Augusti Fanestrum'' ex voluminis II "Humanitatis" fasciculo I (excerptum et separatim impressum) da: Re publica Sancti Marini - typis Reffi et Della Balda - succ. Angelii et soc. - 1916.
*
Giuseppe Castellani, ''L'Arco d'Augusto in Fano, carne Latino con la traduzione metrica, Fano 1916.
*I. Di Stefano-Manzella, ''Documenti inediti sugli Archi Augusteii di Fano e di Rimini (1823-1825)'' in "Rendiconti Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei", Serie VIII, vol. XXXII, Roma 1978.
*Valeria Purcaro, ''Osservazioni sulla "Porta Augustea" di Fano'', in "Rendiconti Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei", Serie VIII, vol. XXXVII, fasc. 5-6, Roma 1982.
*Franco Battistelli; Aldo Deli, ''Immagine di Fano romana'' Cassa di Risparmio di Fano 1983.
*Mario Luni, ''Archeologia nelle Marche, Dalla preistoria all'Età tardoantica'', , pag 228
*Luciano De Sanctis, ''Quando Fano era romana'',Fano 1999.
{{Authority control
Fano
Fano
Augustus