Montecassiano

The village of Montecassiano overlooks the valley of the River Potenza, in the Marche region. There are documents dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries, which already witness settlements of Roman or Late Roman origin. The oldest Roman stone, a funeral altar dating back to the I century AD, was found in Montecassiano in 1602, near Valle Cascia. In the Middle Ages Montecassiano turned out to be a harbor village; It will soon deploy with the Ghibelline faction, and at the end of 1100, It participated in the struggle between the Ghibellines Recanatesi against the Allies associated with Ancona, Fermo and Civitanova, in which the Montecasians had the worst. He later faced other battles with Macerata and at the same time passed from domination to the other: the Malatesta followed the Da Varano and these Francesco Sforza, who in the meantime had started his descent into Central Italy; who, encamped at the mill of Sant'Egidio, imposed on his monasteries in Montecassiano. Subsequent rebellion against the pope and forgiveness requests were particularly frequent. Since he wanted to remain faithful to the Church, Montecassian sustained wars, incursions, looting and raids, resulting in a sharp fall in revenue. Thanks to Marchese Andrea Tomacelli, brother of Pope Bonifacio IX, the country was subject to a lighter tax burden and managed to get the total exemption. During the seventeenth century, Montecassiano was struck by many famines; in the early eighteenth century it had to face, like the rest of the region, the serious economic consequences caused by the passage of Austrian imperial troops to ecclesiastical territories; at the end of the same century the French invasion.

The late-medieval urban structure still preserves the elements and characteristics typical of the village. They are worth visiting the Palazzo dei Priori, in the main square of the village.