A Jacobite Gazetteer - Italy

Fano

The town of Fano is on the Adriatic coast about ten kilometres south of the city of Pesaro.

In 1718 King James III and VIII visited the town to celebrate the pre-Lenten Carnival. ¹ He arrived on February 22, and was waited upon by the nobility of the town at the palace of the Marchese Claudio Gabuccini; ² this palace was formerly located on Corso Matteotti but was destroyed by bombing during World War II. ³ During his stay James went to the theatre, ⁴ visited a number of churches, and saw the Biblioteca Federiciana. James left Fano on March 3 and returned to Urbino. After his departure the town authorities sent James an address of thanks. ⁵

At the beginning of July 1727, James' wife Queen Clementina visited the town on her way to Bologna. ⁶ She stayed at the palace of Cavalier Pietro Paolo Carrara. She also visited the Chiesa di San Domenico (on Via Arco d'Augusto, 33) in order to pray at the tomb of the Dominican priest Maestro Braun who had been her confessor in Rome for several years.

Palazzo Martinozzi

In Piazza degli Avveduti (at the corner of Via Nolfi and Via Cristoforo Colombo) stands the sixteenth century Palazzo Martinozzi.

This palace was the family home of the grandmother of King James III and VIII, Duchess Laura of Modena (born Laura Martinozzi). On the facade of the palace to the left of the main entrance is an Italian inscription: ⁷

QUESTO PALAZZO
FU COSTRUITO NEL MDLXIV
DALLA FAMIGLIA COMITALE FANESE
DEI MARTINOZZI
CHE ALLA CORONA MODENESE
DIEDE LAURA
MADRE
DI MARIA BEATRICE
REGINA STUARDA D’INGHILTERRA

This palace
was constructed in 1564
by the comital family from Fano,
the Martinozzi,
who gave to the Modenese crown
Laura,
mother
of Maria Beatrice,
Stuart Queen of England.

Chiesa di San Paterniano

At the southern end of the town in Piazza Sansovino is located the church of San Paterniano. In May 1735, the bishop of Fano, Monsignor Giacomo Beni, celebrated in this church a solemn requiem mass for the repose of the soul of Queen Maria Clementina. ⁸

One source suggests that the church contains two Latin inscriptions in honour of Queen Clementina, but since this is certainly not the case today it seems likely that the inscriptions were on wood and were erected only temporarily for the requiem mass. ⁹ The first inscription read as follows:

D. O. M.
MARIAE CLEMENTINAE
JACOBI LUDOVICI SUBIESKI
FILIAE
JOANNIS POLONIAE REGIS
COGNOM MAGNI NEPOTI
JACOBI III ANGL. ET FRANC. REGIS UXORI
INTEGRITATAE VITAE, SUAVITATE MORUM
PIETATATE IN DEUM
BENEFICENTIA IN PAUPERES
COMMENDABILI
NUPER HEU
INNATURO FATO
TERRIS EREPTAE, COLOQUE REDDITAE
QUOD
DE CATHOLICA RELIGIONE
DE APOSTOLICA SEDE
TAM BENE MERUERIT
ET URBEM HAN
SUO OLIM NUMINE, MAIESTATEQUE
IMPLEVERIT.
JACOBUS BENI
EPISCOPUS FANENSIS
CIVIUM OMNIUM FREQUENTIA ET LACRYMIS
JUSTA PERSOLVIT
VIXIT ANNOS XXXII. M. VI. D. II OB. XVIII. JAN. AN.
REP. S. MDCCXXV.

The Latin inscription over the right-hand doorway to the church read as follows:

PIE HOSPES INGREDERE
MARIAE CLEMENTINAE SUBIESKI
ANGL. SCOT. HIBERN. FRANCOR.
REGINAE OPTIMAE
PATRONAE B. M.
JACOBUS EPISCOPUS COLON. JUL. FANEN.
HONORARIO TUMULO
PARENTAL L. M. S.
FF. ANNOS XXXII. M. VI. D. II.
XV. KAL. FEBR. MDCCXXXV.

Notes

¹ Franco Battistelli, "Carnevale 1718: Giacomo III Stuart ospite a Fano", Fano : supplemento ... del Notiziario di informazione sui problemi cittadini (1981): 79-94. Pietro-Maria Amiani, Memorie Istoriche della Città de Fano (Fano: Giuseppe Leonardi, 1751): 323-324.

² I have not been able to identify this palace, but think it possible that it is the same as the Municipio.

³ Private communication from Luca Fabbri, August 23, 2006.

⁴ Almost certainly at the Teatro della Fortuna. The building James visited was closed in 1839 and subsequently demolished; the present theatre was built between 1845 and 1863.

⁵ Francis John Angus Skeet, Stuart Papers, Pictures, Relics, Medals and Books in the Collection of Miss Maria Widdrington (Leeds: John Whitehead, 1930), 39.

⁶ Amiani, 328.

⁷ "Piazza degli Avveduti ", http://www.infofano.it/fanocity/fanoshop/menusx/vie/piazza_avveduti.htm.

⁸ Amiani, 330. The event is described in Solenni Esequie di Maria Clementina Sobieski, Regina dell'Inghilterra Celebrate nella Chiesa di S. Paterniano in Fano dall'Ill.mo e Rmo. Monsignor Giacomo Beni, Vescovo di detta Città, li 31 maggio MDCCXXXV (Fano: Gaetano Fanelli, 1735).

⁹ Gaetano Platania, "Morte di Maria Clementina Sobieska Stuart: Il Caso di Michele Marieschi Progettista di 'Apparati Funebri'", Arte Documento 4 (1990): 170-171. I visited the church in May 2004 and could find no trace of the inscriptions.

Image 1 (Palazzo Martinozzi): [Fano], "Town Itineraries 3, Renaissance Times", http://www.turismofano.com/Files/Percorsi/Perc3-e.htm.

Image 2 (Chiesa di San Paterniano): "Chiesa di San Paterniano", http://www.comune.fano.ps.it/cultura/fano/paterniano.html.