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piazza del Comune seen from above, with the Sturinalto fountain in the middle, the Palazzo del Podestà at the far end and the arcades on the left
Photo: Mongolo1984, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Italy · Marche · Cities of art

Fabriano

the town that invented the watermark, with a triangular square and a fountain in the middle

1 stopwhere to park
7 sightsto see
2 eventsseasonal
May 2026checked
On the map

Fabriano is the town of paper, and not as a figure of speech: here in the thirteenth century the papermakers invented the watermark, the design you see against the light inside the sheet, and animal sizing, which made paper tough enough to replace parchment. It is from here that European paper starts to be the thing we know, and the name Fabriano is still on drawing pads across half the world. The old town gathers around a triangular square, which is rare: piazza del Comune, with the Palazzo del Podestà of 1255 on one side and the Sturinalto fountain in the middle, late thirteenth century and looking like an idea borrowed from Perugia. Around it, a weave of narrow streets, arcades and wall towers, and a kilometre from the centre a river that turned the paper mills for centuries.

Sleeping

Stops and overnight stays

The old town is closed to traffic and uphill, but it is close: from the municipal area you walk there in ten minutes and never touch the vehicle.

Area sosta camper comunale

via Vittorio Veneto, 60044 Fabriano (AN)

the municipal area, and it is the one where we slept. It is six hundred metres from piazza del Comune, ten minutes on foot on a gentle climb, and the waste drain sits twenty metres further on, to the north. There are few places, seven according to OpenStreetMap, so on weekends and long weekends it pays to arrive early. OpenStreetMap lists it as paying, but nobody asked us for anything.

7 motorhome pitches

WaterGrey waterChemical toilet
43.338922, 12.910662
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Getting around

Getting around

  • The old town is all on foot and takes barely an hour to walk: what there is to see sits within four hundred metres of piazza del Comune
  • From the municipal area to the centre is ten minutes on foot, on a gentle climb
  • The Paper Museum is a little off the round, beyond the river, to the south: another ten minutes from the square
  • The Frasassi caves are half an hour away, and that is why this stage exists: you sleep here and visit over there

Seeing

Sights

Piazza del Comune is the centre of everything and the rest sits around it. The paper museum is the only thing that asks you to leave the short round, and it is the thing you come for. Tap a marker on the map to open its entry below.

1

Piazza del Comune and the Sturinalto fountain

Square · free entry · 43.33573, 12.90480

it is triangular, which for an Italian medieval square is a rarity, and the shape only makes sense once you are standing in it. In the middle is the Sturinalto fountain, of 1285, with three basins one above the other: anyone who has seen the Fontana Maggiore in Perugia recognises it at once, because that is the model. Around it stand the Palazzo del Podestà, the loggia of San Francesco and the arcades.

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2

Palazzo del Podestà

Monument · free entry · 43.33606, 12.90408

from 1255, Romanesque Gothic, with the great arch that strides across the street and the three-light windows above. It is the oldest piece of the square and the one that gives it its face.

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3

Paper and Watermark Museum

Museum · paid entry · 43.33334, 12.90282

it is in the former friary of San Domenico, and inside is a faithful rebuilding of a medieval water-driven paper mill. The visit is guided, lasts about an hour and is included in the ticket: you watch a video on the history of paper and then the master papermakers making a sheet by hand in front of you. It opens Tuesday to Sunday, 9:30 to 13:30 and 15:00 to 18:00, so Monday is the wrong day. Booking is free and places on each tour are limited.

12 euros

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4

Cathedral of San Venanzio

Church · free entry · 43.33522, 12.90434

a couple of steps from the square, with a cycle of fourteenth century frescoes by the local school in the chapel of San Lorenzo. It is the church that holds the upper quarter together.

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5

Pinacoteca civica Bruno Molajoli

Museum · paid entry · 43.33587, 12.90335

the town's art collection, inside the hospital of Santa Maria del Buon Gesù, with panels and frescoes from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in Fabriano: the school that produced Gentile da Fabriano, who went on to paint the Adoration of the Magi in Florence.

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6

Loggia of San Francesco

Monument · free entry · 43.33579, 12.90498

the row of arches that closes one side of the square, fifteenth century: you walk under it when it rains, and from there the triangular square is visible whole.

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7

Torrione della Portella

Monument · free entry · 43.33495, 12.90120

one of the surviving towers of the walls, towards the river. You cannot go inside, but it tells you how large the defended perimeter was compared with the town of today.

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When

Events

Palio di San Giovanni Battista

June

from ten days before 24 June, the feast of the patron saint, the town goes medieval: costumed processions, flower carpets, contests between the four gates and the palio itself. It is the week when Fabriano is best seen, and also the one when finding a place costs the most.

Fabriano Carta è Cultura

September

the paper festival run by the town council: talks, shows, exhibitions, concerts and workshops in the museums, theatres, historic palazzi and squares, built around the town's papermaking tradition. In 2026 it was in its fourth year, from 9 to 13 September.

Remember

Useful tips

  • Salame di Fabriano is the town's product, not a generic souvenir: it is made with the lean part of the ham and hand-cut cubes of back fat, and it is in Slow Food's Ark of Taste. You buy it at a delicatessen, not at the supermarket
  • The paper museum closes on Mondays, and the visit is guided in timed groups only: if you only have one day, that is the timetable to build it around
  • The motorhome area has seven places: on a long weekend you arrive early or you stay out
  • Fabriano is the right place from which to do Frasassi without sleeping in the gorge: half an hour of road, and in the evening you come back to a real town

Fabriano · part two

and then?

What to do, what to taste, and where to go tomorrow.

Experiences from here

What we did starting from here, ordered by driving time.

the Sala delle Candeline, with the low stalagmites rising out of the still water and the white columns reflected in it

The Frasassi Caves

Museum visits · half a day · 17 minutes away

Taste

The most typical dish, to cook again at home.

Vincisgrassi · ingredients for 6-8 people
  • 400 g plain flour and 4 eggs for the pasta
  • 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon of white wine for the dough
  • 300 g minced beef
  • 200 g minced pork
  • 200 g chicken giblets (livers, hearts, gizzards), cleaned and chopped
  • 100 g prosciutto crudo in a single slice, diced
  • 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 stick of celery
  • 1 glass of dry white wine
  • 2 tablespoons of tomato purée
  • 1 litre of béchamel
  • 150 g grated parmesan
  • 60 g butter
  • nutmeg, salt, black pepper
Method
  1. knead the flour with the eggs, the oil and the wine, work it for ten minutes and let it rest half an hour under a bowl
  2. make the ragù: soften the chopped onion, carrot and celery in the butter with the diced prosciutto
  3. add the minced meats and brown them over a high heat until no pink is left
  4. add the chopped giblets, pour in the white wine and let it evaporate
  5. dissolve the purée in a little hot water, pour it into the pan, salt and pepper, and cook on the lowest heat for at least two hours, adding hot water when it dries out
  6. roll the pasta thin and cut it into rectangles the size of the dish; boil them a few at a time in salted water for a minute and lay them out to dry on a cloth
  7. butter the dish and alternate the layers: pasta, ragù, béchamel and parmesan, for at least six layers, finishing with béchamel and parmesan
  8. let the dish rest overnight in the fridge, the step people here never skip: the next day the flavour is another thing
  9. bake at 180 degrees for forty minutes, until the top crusts over, and serve warm after ten minutes' rest
70 more local recipes, region by region

Nearby

The next stop, ordered by driving time.

the Palazzo dei Consoli in the low light above the roofs, with the Palazzo Pretorio on the right, Monte Ingino behind and the basilica of Sant'Ubaldo at the top

Gubbio

Umbria · Historic villages · overnight stay · 37 km
37minutes

Distances and times by road, measured with OSRM on OpenStreetMap data.

Looking

Fabriano in photographs

30 shots from our visit. Tap one to see it large.

piazza del Comune seen from above, with the Sturinalto fountain in the middle, the Palazzo del Podestà at the far end and the arcades on the leftPhoto: Mongolo1984, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Fabriano from above, the roofs and bell towers of the centre with the Apennine mountains behindPhoto: Diego Baglieri, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
piazza del Comune with the Sturinalto fountain, the town hall with its clock tower and on the left the arches of the loggia of San FrancescoPhoto: Parsifall, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
the Sturinalto fountain from above, with its stacked basins and the octagonal steps, in front of the town hall and the clock towerPhoto: Maddy16869, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the Sturinalto fountain, from 1285, with its three stacked basins, and behind it the battlements and the arch of the Palazzo del PodestàPhoto: Sailko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
the basins of the Sturinalto fountain in front of the great pointed arch of the PodestàPhoto: Juljul60, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the Sturinalto fountain and the Palazzo del Podestà under the snowPhoto: Theluoz, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the square on the evening of the Palio di San Giovanni Battista, with the banners hung on the Podestà and the drummers in costume around the fountainPhoto: Diego Baglieri, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the battlemented front of the Palazzo del Podestà, with its three-light windows and the great pointed arch that strides across the streetPhoto: Viaggiamocela, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the side of the Podestà with its battlemented tower, and the ramp that climbs along the wall up to the archPhoto: Mongolo1984, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the arch of the Podestà seen from the street, with the back of the palace and the arcades of the square at the far endPhoto: Maya Cordì, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
under the great arch of the Podestà, with the faded frescoes on the vault and the street carrying on beyondPhoto: Heinz Bunse, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
the frescoes under the vault of the great arch, with coats of arms and the remains of a starry skyPhoto: Sailko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
the former Dominican convent, in stone and brick, which houses the Museum of Paper and WatermarksPhoto: Viaggiamocela, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the cloister of San Domenico, inside the museum, with the long pool of water in the middle and the arcades around itPhoto: Dieterdreist, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the paper mill rebuilt in the museum, with the wooden hammers that pounded rags into paper pulpPhoto: Superfre, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the vat of paper pulp seen from above, with the wood and wire moulds used to make a sheet by handPhoto: Raganella59, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the light-and-shade watermarks in the museum, lit from behind so that the picture inside the sheet shows throughPhoto: Superfre, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the front of the cathedral of San Venanzio, in brick and pale stone, with the steps in frontPhoto: Mongolo1984, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the gothic apse of the cathedral, in stone, with the brick bell tower beside itPhoto: Diego Baglieri, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the nave of the cathedral, with gilded altars along the sidesPhoto: Gaspa, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
the hospital of Santa Maria del Buon Gesù, from the fifteenth century, with its portico and two-light windows, now home to the art galleryPhoto: Mongolo1984, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the frescoed lunette over the hospital doorway, the Madonna and Child with a saint and the donor, by the Master of StaffoloPhoto: Mongolo1984, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the hospital cloister with the well in the middle and arches on two floorsPhoto: Theluoz, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the triptych by the Master of Staffolo in the art gallery, the Virgin adoring the Child between Saint John the Baptist and Saint Catherine of AlexandriaPhoto: Parsifall, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the loggia of San Francesco along its whole length, with the row of arches above the shopsPhoto: Mongolo1984, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
under the loggia, with the row of vaults growing smaller towards the far end and the light coming in through the archesPhoto: Verdenex84, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the stairway climbing to the loggia of San Francesco, with the arch passing underneath and the arcades of the square at the far endPhoto: Robot8A, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
the arches of the loggia lit up at duskPhoto: Diego Baglieri, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
a cobbled lane in the old town, squeezed between walls of brick and plasterPhoto: Robot8A, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0