Cimarella, Sforzacosta, Santa Maria del Monte, Piediripa, Villa Potenza, Madonna del Monte, Montanello, Montevinci, Santo Stefano, Consalvi, Valle, Valteia
The historical city centre is on a hill between theChienti andPotenza rivers. It first consisted of thePicenes city namedRicina (Helvia Recina), then, after its romanization, Recina and Helvia Recina. After the destruction of Helvia Recina by the barbarians, the inhabitants took shelter in the hills and eventually began to rebuild the city, first on the top of the hills, before descending again later and expanding. The newly rebuilt town was Macerata. It became a municipality (orcomune in Italian) in August 1138.
According to Jason Horowitz ofThe New York Times, Macerata was initially welcoming to migrants coming from Africa, and in 2013 the town "won national recognition for its integration efforts". Horowitz stated that by 2018 Macerata residents had a more negative view of migrants.[7] In February 2018, an Italian woman,Pamela Mastropietro, was found dead in a suitcase in Macerata, with her body in pieces; a Nigerian was arrested and accused of causing the death. This caused an increase in anti-migrant sentiment; later that month an Italian far-right extremist, Luca Traini,shot six black people in Macerata and wrapped himself in the Italian flag.[8]
The town counts several hamlets (frazioni) and localities: Acquesalate, Acquevive, Botonto San Giacomo, Botonto Sant'Isidoro, Cervare, Cimarella, Cincinelli, Consalvi, Corneto, Helvia Recina, Isola, Madonna del Monte, Montanello, Piediripa, Sforzacosta, Valle, Vallebona, Valteia, Villa Potenza.
Typically hilly, the climate is both Mediterranean and continental. TheAdriatic Sea, which is approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) away, and particularly theApennine Mountains influence the weather. The elevation of Macerata is approximately 315 metres (1,033 ft) above sea level, so winter is particularly rainy and the snow is not so frequent and plentiful. Balkanic and northwestern perturbations may cause snow. Middle seasons are variable, and late snowfall and frost may occur during April. October is neither warm nor very cold. Summer is rather sunny, and sometimes the thermometer reaches 40 °C (104 °F). Garbino is the cause, a hot wind from the hinterland. Summer thunderstorms are frequent in August during the evening, when the weather becomes quite unstable.
In the central Piazza della Libertà is theLoggia dei Mercanti with two-tierarcades dating from theRenaissance. There are a number of striking palazzi, mostly along Corso Matteotti, includingPalazzo dei Diamanti. Next to the Loggia dei Mercanti, Corso della Repubblica leads to Piazza Vittorio Veneto where, in the Palazzo Ricci, houses the city's modern art gallery. The nearbyPalazzo Buonaccorsi houses the main civic art museum, as well as a Carriage Museum. The palace was built in 1700–1720 for Count Raimondo Buonaccorsi and his son Cardinal Simone Buonaccorsi using designs by Giovanni Battista Contini. The piano nobile is known for theSala dell'Eneide (Hall of the Aeneid), decorated with frescoes depicting episodes of theAeneid depicted byRambaldi,Dardani,Solimena, and canvases byGarzi andGiovanni Gioseffo dal Sole. Among the museum's masterpieces is the Renaissance work of theMadonna and Child byCarlo Crivelli.
TheBiblioteca Comunale Mozzi Borgetti, the main civic library of Macerata, founded in the 18th century, is housed in the former Jesuit seminary, located on Piazza Vittorio Veneto.
TheUniversity of Macerata was founded in 1290 and has about 13,000 students; Macerata also has anart school, two publishing houses (Liberilibri and Quodlibet),jazz clubs and the like.
Just north of the town, at the Villa Potenza, lie the remains of ancientHelvia Recina, aRoman settlement destroyed by theVisigoths.
Among the churches in the town are:
Macerata Cathedral: built in Neoclassical style in 1771–1790; it has the remains of a 15th-century Gothic bell tower. The interior was designed byCosimo Morelli.
San Claudio al Chienti:Romanesque church south of the Town. Its unusual shape is due to one church being built on the remains of another. It was built during the 14th century as war reparation to Montolmo (today'sCorridonia), which defeated Macerata in a bloody and long war.San Claudio al Chienti is very close to Macerata, but it has been afrazione ofCorridonia since that time.
The first opera performed here wasGiuseppe Verdi'sAida in 1921. It was promoted by the association "Società Cittadina" led by Count Pieralberto Conti. The arena was transformed into a real outdoor theatre with an enormous parabolic stage. The orchestra was placed immediately behind it and the seats were located around it. In the middle of the front sidewall a large door was built that allowed the entrance of the Egyptian conqueror. Posters were created byVerona's officialAida employee Plino Codognato and the painterEmilio Lazzari. The opera and its Triumphal March employed many people (in addition to about one thousand props and also different animals such as horses and camels). Francisca Solari interpretedAida and Alessandro Dolci sang the great tenor role in the robes ofRadames. The hospitality of Macerata grew quickly and new ways were developed to induce people to stay longer in the town, so the opera was repeated 17 times with more than seventy thousand attendees. The next year the operaLa Gioconda was sung. Until 1927 no more shows were performed, at which time the famous tenorBeniamino Gigli sang a unique concert for the invalids ofWorld War I.
FromWorld War II until the 1960s, it was rare to have operas in the local "Bel Canto". In 1967, Carlo Perucci, a native ofSan Benedetto del Tronto (Marche), established the first stable local band with the songCircuito lirico delle Marche, so when he was in Macerata he asked the city hall to offer new performances. With enthusiasm the local administrators allowed him to offer new extraordinary contracts: Giuseppe Verdi'sOtello (with Del Monaco and Protti), and Giacomo Puccini'sMadama Butterfly (with Antonietta Stella and Nicola Ruggeri). Finally, on 3 August, the musical season began, and continues to today.
Since 1990, some operas have been performed in the 550-seat Teatro Lauro Rossi following extensive renovation, which was completed in 1989. Originally named the Teatro dei Condomini and built by Cosimo Morelli on a project by Antonio Bibiena in 1767, it opened in 1774 withPasquale Anfossi'sOlimpiade. In 1872, it was renamed after the musician Lauro Rossi who was born in the town.
This positive situation made the Sferisterio Opera a success. By 1992 the organization had won the "Franco Abbiati award of Italian musical Critics" three times. Other prestigious Italian lyric events reproduce the Sferisterio's events: Opera di Roma,Teatro Comunale di Bologna andLa Scala di Milano.
2006 was the year of transformation led by the new artistic director Pier Luigi Pizzi. The summer event became a "Festival". He gave all of his 50 years of experience. Pizzi's career as the opera's director, designer, and dresser earned many awards. The season started with a dominant theme that marks all the shows and their sets. The parabolic stage was recovered, reviving the old atmosphere of the Handball Stadium. In that year,Mozart's 250th anniversary, the theme of "initiatory journey" opened with theMagic Flute by the Austrian musician. From that moment in every season the choice of operas was marked by afil rouge theme, demonstrating the great intellectual vitality of opera:il Gioco dei Potenti in 2007 withMacbeth,Maria Stuarda,Norma and the gala dance withRoberto Bolle andAlessandra Ferri; "La seduzione" in 2008 when the two-time Oscar-winning citizen of Macerata,Dante Ferretti, was hired as director;L'inganno in 2009 withDon Giovanni andMadama Butterfly.
Every year since 1978, a 27 km pilgrimage from Macerata toLoreto has taken place on the first Saturday of June after school has finished. Though it attracts believers from all over the world, those from neighbouring cities andregions are especially numerous. Its main purpose is to revive an old tradition of gratitude of students toMary for the end of the school year. Each iteration, more pilgrims have taken part, their number having grown from just three hundred to sixty thousand pilgrims.[11] Overnight, participants are led through the hills along a road traditionally held to be a Marian path. A rood donated byPope John Paul II, who chaired at the Mass in 1993, heads the procession.[citation needed] The night march is diligently guided and accompanied by recitations of the Rosary, songs, testimonies, meditations on the Word of God and the teachings of the Pope.
Local specialities include vincisgrassi alla maceratese, a regional version oflasagna that differs from the usual in that the ragù contains a mix of pork, beef and lamb.[12]
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