Of the centuries-old dominion of the Malatestas in Fano, the Palazzo Malatestiano and its suggestive Court are certainly the most fascinating and representative symbols. Official residence of the lordship and home to an active and lively court, the imposing complex, by virtue of the many eras that have passed through it, today has a complex and articulated architectural identity and a variety of styles that have taken nothing away from its original charm.
Overlooking Piazza XX Settembre, in the heart of the city, the Palazzo Malatesti and the Malatesta Court, located in an area that had already hosted Roman public buildings in Roman times, as documented by the presence of mosaics dating back to the end of the 2nd or beginning of the 3rd century AD, they are certainly two of the symbolic places of Fano. A place full of history and charm, the Malatesta Court, a sort of large courtyard discovered inside the Palace which can be reached by passing through the monumental Borgia-Cybo Arch, represented the center of the political, artistic and cultural life of the city for over a century. From an architectural point of view, only the left side is truly Malatesta, the one overlooked by the imposing Palace, with the portico with slender stone columns and the capitals with the characteristic Malatesta rose with four petals and the four beautiful pointed mullioned windows. cooked. On the western side of the Court, there are the so-called Malatesta Houses: overlooking the Court, they were built in 1355 by Galeotto I Malatesti, who had just become lord of Fano, as his official residence of the lordship. Subsequently, Pandolfo III Malatesti, not satisfied with his father's residence, expanded it on the western front with late-Gothic architecture. Work on the so-called "New House of the Lord", the Palazzo Malatestiano, began in 1413 and ended in 1421 when Pandulf III settled there definitively with his court, making Fano an active city from an artistic and cultural point of view. By virtue of the changing historical vicissitudes, the Palace today has a heterogeneous and complex architectural identity characterized by multiple and diversified interventions which have however left its original charm unchanged. In the oldest part, which today houses the offices and management of the Cassa di Risparmio di Fano, the large fourteenth-century cross vault which was already part of the Malatesta house is notable, as is the cylindrical scalar turret which is visible from the courtyard.
The most recent part is now home to the Art Gallery and the Civic Museum. The staircase and the loggia were rebuilt as they appear today in 1544 when the Malatesti lordship had long since passed and the civic magistrate had taken up residence in the palace. The palace is also connected to the Palazzo del Podestà via a pier, rebuilt but presumably also present in the original structure.
