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00 Servigliano
Stemma di Servigliano

Marche · Fermo

Servigliano

An eighteenth-century ideal city in the Tenna valley, rebuilt by papal commission on a 137-by-144-meter quadrangle after the old hill village collapsed.

Best time
Apr–Oct
By car
1 h 21 min from Ancona
Population
2,171

Known for

  • IDEAL CITY

    Bracci's 1772 quadrangle for Pope Clement XIV, a rare eighteenth-century example of Enlightenment urban planning realized on open ground.

  • THE COLLAPSED HILL

    The old village began sliding into the Tenna valley in 1758 and was abandoned, leaving the new town to be built from scratch four kilometers away.

  • CAMPO PG 59

    Second World War prisoner-of-war camp on the edge of town, now the Parco della Pace memorial to the Allied internees held here until 1943.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

  • J10°
  • F13°
  • M14°
  • A17°
  • M22°
  • J28°
  • J31°
  • A31°
  • S26°
  • O21°
  • N15°
  • D12°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

The festa: Marco, 25 April

Why come

Servigliano sits above the Tenna valley, sixty kilometers south of Ancona. The old hill village began to slide in 1758, slowly enough that the inhabitants had time to abandon it. Pope Clement XIV commissioned the architect Virginio Bracci to build a replacement on the valley floor four kilometers away, and work started in 1772.

The new town was named Castel Clementino after the pontiff and kept that name for almost a century until Italian unification restored the older one. Bracci laid it out as an ideal city: a quadrangle of 137 by 144 meters, three gates (Porta Clementina, Porta Pia, Porta Santo Spirito), a cardo and a decumano crossing at Piazza Roma, the Collegiata di San Marco closing the eastern axis. The geometry is still legible from the air. The frazioni in the surrounding hills hold the older Servigliano, the one that slipped.

The Sunday letter

Servigliano 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 Servigliano comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.

Read on

Servigliano in our articles

How to get there

From Ancona / Pescara (AOI), about 1h 25m by car.

Rimini (RMI) is about 2h 28m away.

By car from the centre of Ancona 1h 21m, Pescara 1h 47m or Perugia 2 hours.

Every town within reach of Ancona / Pescara airport.

Servigliano, photo 1
Servigliano, photo 2

What to see

  • Centro storico (Castel Clementino)

    Eighteenth-century quadrangular ideal city of 137 by 144 meters, designed by Virginio Bracci from 1772, with cardo, decumano and three monumental gates.

  • Collegiata di San Marco

    Eighteenth-century collegiate church closing the eastern axis of Piazza Roma, with a monumental bell tower and the relics of San Servigliano and San Gualtiero.

  • Santa Maria del Piano

    Oldest building of the commune, just outside the quadrilateral, built on the foundations of a Roman villa, single nave with seven side altars.

  • Piazza Roma

    Central square at the intersection of the two main axes, framed by the Collegiata, the Palazzo Comunale and the porticoes of the new town.

  • Parco della Pace

    Memorial park on the site of the First World War prisoner-of-war camp PG 59, which held thousands of Allied prisoners until 1943.

The slow-trip planner

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Living here

  • Population 2,171
  • In-betweeni
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Nearest airport Ancona / Pescara, 1 h 25 min drive
  • Regional capital Ancona, 1 h 20 min drive

Common questions

What is Servigliano known for?
Servigliano is an eighteenth-century ideal city at 215 meters in the Tenna valley, rebuilt by papal commission on a 137-by-144-meter quadrangle after the old hill village collapsed.
Where is Servigliano?
Servigliano is a comune in the province of Fermo, in Marche.
What is the nearest airport to Servigliano?
Ancona / Pescara (AOI), about 1h 25m by car.
How long is the drive from Ancona to Servigliano?
About 1h 21m by car.
When is the best time to visit Servigliano?
Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 12 rain days.
Is there a sagra or a festival in Servigliano?
The town keeps its patron saint's day: Marco, 25 April.
Which other towns are like Servigliano?
Genga, Montefiore dell'Aso and Monte Castello di Vibio.
How many people live in Servigliano?
2,171 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 215 m
  • Population: 2,171
  • Surface area: 18.49 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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