Marche · Macerata
Cingoli
The Balcone delle Marche at 631 meters, a hilltop borgo where on clear days the view runs from the Sibillini to the Croatian coast.
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 52 min from Ancona
- Population
- 9,584
Known for
BALCONE DELLE MARCHE
Belvedere at 631 meters with views across the Marche to the Sibillini and, on clear days, the Croatian coast across the Adriatic.
LOTTO
Lorenzo Lotto painted the Madonna del Rosario altarpiece for the Dominican church here in 1537 to 1539.
POPE PIUS VIII
Francesco Saverio Castiglione, born in Cingoli in 1761, served as pope from March 1829 until his death twenty months later.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Oct
- J8°
- F11°
- M11°
- A14°
- M20°
- J26°
- J29°
- A29°
- S23°
- O19°
- N12°
- D9°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
The festa: Esuperanzio di Cingoli, 24 July
Why come
Cingoli sits at 631 meters on a hill above the Macerata province, thirty-five kilometers from Ancona and twenty-seven from Macerata. The town is known as the Balcone delle Marche for the belvedere that on a clear day takes in the Sibillini, the entire region, and the Croatian coast across the Adriatic. The site is older than its medieval walls: ancient Cingulum was founded and fortified in 63 BC by Titus Labienus, Julius Caesar's lieutenant, at his own expense, on the bones of an earlier Picene settlement.
The town held municipium status under Rome and became important again during the civil wars. Cingoli is the birthplace of Pope Pius VIII, Francesco Saverio Castiglione, born here in 1761. Lorenzo Lotto painted the Madonna del Rosario altarpiece for the Dominican church here between 1537 and 1539, the work that still anchors the town's art holdings.
The Sunday letter
Cingoli is on our list. Its letter is still to come.
We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Cingoli comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.
How to get there
From Ancona / Pescara (AOI), about 40 minutes by car.
Rimini (RMI) is about 1h 47m away.
By car from the centre of Ancona 52 minutes or Perugia 1h 41m.
Coming by train into Rimini? Cingoli is about 1h 30m away by road.
What to see
Belvedere di Cingoli
The viewpoint that gives the town its Balcone delle Marche nickname, with views over the Macerata hills, the Sibillini and on clear days the Croatian coast.
Madonna del Rosario di Lorenzo Lotto
Altarpiece painted by Lorenzo Lotto between 1537 and 1539 for the Dominican church of San Domenico, the town's defining work of art.
Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta
Eighteenth-century cathedral rebuilt for Pope Pius VIII, the local-born pope whose pontificate ran 1829 to 1830.
Centro storico
Medieval walled hilltop with surviving stone gates, narrow streets and the noble palaces of the Cingoli families.
Lago di Castreccioni
Reservoir lake of around 200 hectares below the town, used for fishing, sailing and walking trails along the shore.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Cingoli fits in a slow Italy circuit.
Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.
Through the year
What happens here
Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.
Festa del Paesepatron saint's feast
usually held in August. lemarche.it
Festa Madonna di Lourdespatron saint's feast
usually held in September. lemarche.it
Festival di Fine Estatepatron saint's feast
usually held in September. TrovaSagre
Living here
- Population 9,584
- In-betweeni
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Nearest airport Ancona / Pescara, 40 min drive
- Regional capital Ancona, 52 min drive
Common questions
- What is Cingoli known for?
- Cingoli is the Balcone delle Marche at 631 meters, a hilltop borgo where on clear days the view runs from the Sibillini to the Croatian coast.
- Where is Cingoli?
- Cingoli is a comune in the province of Macerata, in Marche.
- What is the nearest airport to Cingoli?
- Ancona / Pescara (AOI), about 40 minutes by car.
- How long is the drive from Ancona to Cingoli?
- About 52 minutes by car.
- When is the best time to visit Cingoli?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 29 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 13 rain days.
- Is there a sagra or a festival in Cingoli?
- Yes. Festa del Paese, Festa Madonna di Lourdes and Festival di Fine Estate. August is when the first of them falls.
- Which other towns are like Cingoli?
- Norcia, Arcevia and Mondavio.
- How many people live in Cingoli?
- 9,584 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
The numbers
- Elevation: 631 m
- Population: 9,584
- Surface area: 148.2 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
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