A Mondavio drawing by F.Mingucci, 1626.


Aerial view of historical center.

According to the historician Seta’s chronicle (XIIth century), after the Roman Civitas Suasae was destroyed by the Gothic King Alarico, the survivors took refuge on the surrounding hills, giving origin to several hilly centres, among which Mondavio, the so called ‘Parva Civitas in Piceno’.
The historician Macci was rather of an other opinion. He wrote that the origin of Mondavio was connected to the presence of a Franciscan convent on this territory. Around 13^th century, some wealthy families, devoted to the Saint, decided to live in this territory probably originating the first settlement of Mons Avii.
The origin of the name is uncertain, too: ‘Mons Avii’, meaning mountain of Avio, a local lord of the 14^th century, or ‘Mons Avium’, mountain of birds, a more poetic and Franciscan name. What we know for certainty is that in 14^th century Mondavio was already an inhabited centre and that, in 1355, the city was appointed as vicariate by the Cardinal Albornoz.

The vicariate extension was very changeable for all the 14^th century. In a first time, Mondavio belonged to the Committee of Fano, with other 18-24 castles. It became then an ecclesiastic feud under the Pope’s authority. In a period of weighty desorders, the vicariate was conquered by Francesco Sforza, one of the Pope’s enemies. In 1442 Sigismondo Malatesta triumphally entered in Mondavio, marriage settlement of his bride Polissena Sforza, Francesco’s daughter. Subsequently Sigismondo Malatesta was defeated by the Pope’s allies Alfonso d’Aragona and Federico da Montefeltro, future Duke of Urbino, and definitively lost the control over Mondavio.
In 1474, after a short period under the authority of the Piccolomini Family, the vicariate, together with other 24 castles, was donated by Pope Sisto IV to his nephew, Giovanni della Rovere, on the occasion of his marriage with Giovanna da Montefeltro, Federico’s daughter.

 
Noble coats respectively of Federico da Montefeltro and Giovanni Della Rovere.

During the gouvernement of the Della Roveres, the vicariate lived a 130 years period of peace and progress and, thanks to its geographical and strategical position, became the natural and symbolic link between the Seignority of Senigallia and the Dukedom of Urbino.

The fortress was commissioned by Giovanni to the architect Francesco Di Giorgio Martini and is considered one of the highest expressions of the 15^th century military architecture. Designed to defend the vicariate from external attacks, the fortress was never besieged and its cannons were never used. After the end of De La Rovere’s family, in 1631 the Holy See ragained the vicariate and kept it under its control until the creation of the Reign of Italy (1860). The vicariate was appointed as district with an its own local Magistrate’s Court and prison (in the forteress). In spite of the historical and political changements of the last two centuries, Mondavio still preserved the peculiar Renaissance carachteristics until the first decade of 1900.