Arco di Augusto, Fano

The Arco di Augusto is the principal monument of Fano, a Roman foundation and seaside town in the northern Marche whose ancient name, Fanum Fortunae, derived from a temple of the goddess Fortune. The arch was built in 9 AD, as recorded by the surviving frieze inscription, during the reign of the Emperor Augustus, to serve as the monumental gateway through which the Via Flaminia, the great Roman road from Rome to the Adriatic, entered the city. Constructed in travertine, it originally had three openings, a large central arch for vehicles flanked by two smaller pedestrian passages, surmounted by an attic storey with an arcaded gallery. The upper part of the monument was largely destroyed in 1463 during the siege of Fano by Federico da Montefeltro, whose artillery brought down the attic; what remains is the lower arched structure, still impressive and embedded in the medieval street. The original appearance of the complete arch is preserved in a 16th-century carved relief mounted on the loggia of the adjacent church of San Michele, allowing visitors to picture the monument as the Romans knew it. The arch was restored in 1937 for the bimillenary of Augustus. It stands at the end of the Via Arco d'Augusto, on the line of the ancient decumanus that still structures Fano's centre, and is freely accessible at all hours as an open monument. A visit takes around half an hour, and combines easily with Fano's Roman walls, its museums, and its beaches. Late-afternoon light catches the travertine and the carved details most attractively.