Built in 1827 as an aristocratic residence, Villa Vitali was originally constructed on three floors and later modified at the end of the 19th century. As the villa stood on the site of a sacred temple, Count Barnaba Vitali decided to evoke the building’s original religious function and had a small chapel built in the Villa in the 20th century, the walls of which are decorated with images depicting stories of St. Francis of Paola. The chapel served as the local parish church until the 1960s. The villa was then bought by the municipality of Fermo.
Today the Villa is home to the town’s scientific collections: the ‘Silvio Zavatti’ Polar Museum, the only museum in Italy to house the artefacts from Arctic populations and findings from Prof. Silvio Zavatti’s expeditions to the Polar regions; the ‘Tommaso Salvadori’ Ornithological Museum, a private collection of stuffed birds including some species currently under threat of extinction; the Meteorite Hall which conserves the ‘Fermo meteorite’ which hit the town on 25 September 1996 and the collection of photographic equipment, donated to the Municipality of Fermo by the former Ambassador to Tanzania, Alfredo Matacotta-Cordella; and the ‘Nicola Rizzi’ Pipe Museum, the only collection of its kind in Italy, which exhibits approximately 450 pipes, of great craftsmanship and undeniable beauty.
The park of the Villa contains an open-air stadium.
Marche Film Commission — Fondazione Marche Cultura
Piazza Cavour 23 — 60121 Ancona
Phone: +39 071 9951 623/624/625
Email: silvia.pincini@fondazionemarchecultura.it
