Tolentino, Italy

Tolentino is an Italian municipality of 17,646 inhabitants in the province of Macerata in the Marche region.

It is located in a territorially favorable geographical position and has always hosted residential settlements, assuming over the centuries an important historical, cultural and economic role as a hinge between the coast and the mountain area: the first evidence of life in the territory of the municipality dates back to the Lower Paleolithic up to to the Piceno civilization. The city of Tolentino is located in the center of the Chienti valley.

From the Roman period, Flavio Giulio Catervio, prefect of the praetorium, retired to Tolentino towards the end of the 4th century and, according to tradition, he was responsible for the conversion to Christianity of the people of Tolentino, who proclaimed him their protector with the name of San Catervo and near his tomb they will build a church governed by a bishop, of which the magnificent sarcophagus is preserved.

In 1166 Tolentino became a municipality, building churches, convents and the city walls.

After centuries of domination da Varano dynasty, lords of Camerino, Tolentino passed under the State of the Church.

In 1797 the Treaty of Tolentino was stipulated between Napoleon Bonaparte and Pius VI with which the Church had to accept harsh economic impositions and the transfer of various towns. In 1815, the battle of Tolentino was fought near the city, between Gioacchino Murat and the Austrian army, considered the first battle of Independence.

After the unification of Italy, a decisive industrial take-off began for the city.

After the Unification of Italy, a decisive industrial take-off began for the city.

Although it was not the epicentre, it suffered numerous damages and some collapses, fortunately without victims, but which caused the displacement of around 10 thousand people, due to the tremors of 24 August, 26 and 30 October of the 2016 Central Italy earthquake.