Dedicated to the main patron of the city of Fano, the church of San Paterniano, built in the mid-16th century, still houses the relics of the Saint within an evocative typically Renaissance setting.
The church of San Paterniano is dedicated to one of the city's patrons, who according to tradition was born in Fano and first became a hermit, subsequently abbot in a monastery and finally bishop of the city itself. The basilica stands in the place where the ancient abbey of San Paterniano was previously built, demolished for military reasons. The new project of the church, which also included a convent inside, was attributed to Jacopo Sansovino, although there are no documents that attest to its veracity. The construction was instead granted by the then Pope Paul III. At the time of its consecration, in 1558, the church appeared complete on the inside, with the presence of three naves with sober lines and typical sixteenth-century decorations, while the external stone cladding was unfinished.
Inside there are two altars: the first, on the right, dedicated to the Marriage of the Virgin by Guercino, the second, however, presents a canvas with the Virgin adored by the saints. In the chapel located to the right of the presbyter the bones of the Saint have been kept since 1551 inside an ancient late Roman sarcophagus. The fresco in the chapel and that of the apse basin are the work of the painter Giovanni Battista Ragazzini. It is from the side door that you enter the cloister dominated by the bell tower rebuilt according to the ancient design after the bombings by the Germans in 1944. The cloister, which appears to have already been built in 1528, is composed of twenty-four columns of the Corinthian order of porticoes that delimit the central open space. In the center we can find the cistern's roof designed by Jacopo Bambagiani, who is presumed to be the same author of the church portal.
