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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}
{{refimprove|date=July 2013}}
{{Infobox Italian comune
| name                = Macerata
| official_name       = Comune di Macerata
| native_name         = 
| image_skyline       = Panorama Centro Macerata.jpg
| imagesize           = 
| image_alt           = 
| image_caption       =
| image_shield        = Macerata-Stemma.svg
| shield_alt          = 
| image_map           = Map of comune of Macerata (province of Macerata, region Marche, Italy).svg
| map_alt             = 
| map_caption         = Location of Macerata within its province
| pushpin_label_position = 
| pushpin_map_alt     = 
| coordinates         = {{coord|43|18|01|N|13|27|12|E|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_footnotes = 
| region              = [[Marche]]
| province            = [[Province of Macerata|Macerata]] (MC)
| frazioni            = Cimarella, Sforzacosta, Santa Maria del Monte, Piediripa, Villa Potenza, Madonna del Monte, Montanello, Montevinci, Santo Stefano, Consalvi, Valle, Valteia
| mayor_party         = 
| mayor               = [[Sandro Parcaroli]] (since September 2020)
| area_footnotes      = 
| area_total_km2      = 92.73
| population_footnotes = 
| population_total    = 41564<ref>{{cite web|url=http://demo.istat.it/bilmens2018gen/index.html|title=Statistiche demografiche ISTAT|website=demo.istat.it}}</ref>
| population_as_of    = 31 December 2017
| pop_density_footnotes = 
| population_demonym  = Maceratesi
| elevation_footnotes = 
| elevation_m         = 315
| twin1               = 
| twin1_country       = 
|istat=043023| saint               = [[Julian the Hospitaller]]
| day                 = 31 August
| postal_code         = 62100
| area_code           = 0733
| website             = {{official website|http://www.comune.macerata.it}}
| footnotes           = 
}}

'''Macerata''' ({{IPA|it|matʃeˈraːta|-|It-Macerata.ogg}}) is a city and ''[[comune]]'' in central Italy, the county seat of [[the province of Macerata]] in the [[Marche]] region. It has a population of about 41,564.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://demo.istat.it/bilmens2018gen/index.html|title=Population|date=September 2018|publisher=ISTAT - Italian National Institute of Statistics}}</ref>

==History==
{{see also|Ricina}}
{{Unreferencedsect|date=August 2024}}
The historical city centre is on a hill between the [[Chienti]] and [[Potenza (river)|Potenza]] rivers. It first consisted of the [[Picentes|Picenes]] city named [[Ricina]] ('''''Helvia Recina'''''), then, after its Romanization, Recina and Helvia Recina. After the destruction of Helvia Recina by the barbarians, the inhabitants took shelter in the hills and eventually began to rebuild the city, first on the top of the hills, before descending again later and expanding. The newly rebuilt town was Macerata. It became a municipality (or [[comune]] in Italian) in August 1138.
===20th century===
The ''comune'' of Macerata was the location of an internment camp for Jews and refugees, and a [[prisoner-of-war]] camp (PG53, at [[Sforzacosta]])<ref>{{cite web | title=PG 53 Sforzacosta Macerata | website=Prisoners of War in Italy | url=http://powsitaly.weebly.com/pg-53-sforzacosta-macerata.html | access-date=26 May 2020 | archive-date=14 April 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414112155/http://powsitaly.weebly.com/pg-53-sforzacosta-macerata.html | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=records>{{cite web | title=German Camps –British & Commonwealth Prisoners of war 1939-45 | website=Forces War Records | date=3 June 2019 | url=https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/european-camps-british-commonwealth-prisoners-of-war-1939-45 | access-date=26 May 2020}}</ref> during [[World War II]].

===21st century===
According to Jason Horowitz of ''[[The New York Times]]'', Macerata was initially welcoming to migrants coming from Africa, and in 2013 the town "won national recognition for its integration efforts". Horowitz stated that by 2018 Macerata residents had a more negative view of migrants.<ref name=Horowitz>{{cite news|author=Horowitz, Jason|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/07/world/europe/italy-macerata-migrants.html|title=This Italian Town Once Welcomed Migrants. Now, It's a Symbol for Right-Wing Politics|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=2018-07-07|access-date=2018-09-03}}</ref> In February 2018, an Italian woman, [[Murder of Pamela Mastropietro|Pamela Mastropietro]], was found dead in a suitcase in Macerata, with her body in pieces; a Nigerian was arrested and accused of causing the death. This caused an increase in anti-migrant sentiment; later that month an Italian far-right extremist, Luca Traini, [[Macerata shooting|shot six black people in Macerata]] and wrapped himself in the Italian flag.<ref>{{cite news|author=Povoledo, Elisabetta|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/03/world/europe/macerata-italy-shooting.html|title='Racial Hatred' Cited After African Immigrants Are Shot in Italy|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=2018-02-03|access-date=2018-09-03}}</ref>

==Geography==

===Subdivisions===
The town counts several hamlets (''[[Frazione|frazioni]]'') and localities: Acquesalate, Acquevive, Botonto San Giacomo, Botonto Sant'Isidoro, Cervare, Cimarella, Cincinelli, Consalvi, Corneto, Helvia Recina, Isola, Madonna del Monte, Montanello, Piediripa, Sforzacosta, Valle, Vallebona, Valteia, Villa Potenza.

=== Climate ===
{{Unreferencedsect|date=August 2024}}
Typically hilly, the climate is both Mediterranean and continental. The [[Adriatic Sea]], which is approximately {{convert|30|km|mi}} away, and particularly the [[Apennine Mountains]] influence the weather. The elevation of Macerata is approximately {{convert|315|m|ft}} above sea level, so winter is particularly rainy and the snow is not so frequent and plentiful. Balkanic and northwestern perturbations may cause snow. Middle seasons are variable, and late snowfall and frost may occur during April. October is neither warm nor very cold. Summer is rather sunny, and sometimes the thermometer reaches {{convert|40|C|F}}. Garbino is the cause, a hot wind from the hinterland. Summer thunderstorms are frequent in August during the evening, when the weather becomes quite unstable.

== Government ==
{{See also|List of mayors of Macerata}}

== Main sights ==
{{Unreferencedsect|date=August 2024}}
[[File:University of Macerata Aula Magna.jpg|thumb|left|The great hall of the [[University of Macerata]].]]
[[File:Carlo crivelli, madonna di macerata, 1470-73 ca. 01.jpg|thumb|''[[Madonna with Child (Crivelli)|Madonna with Child]]'' by [[Carlo Crivelli]] (1470), [[Pinacoteca di Macerata]]]]

In the central Piazza della Libertà is the ''Loggia dei Mercanti'' with two-tier [[arcade (architecture)|arcade]]s dating from the [[Renaissance]]. There are a number of striking palazzi, mostly along Corso Matteotti, including ''Palazzo dei Diamanti''. Next to the Loggia dei Mercanti, Corso della Repubblica leads to Piazza Vittorio Veneto where, in the Palazzo Ricci, houses the city's modern art gallery. The nearby ''[[Palazzo Buonaccorsi]]'' houses the main civic art museum, as well as a Carriage Museum. The palace was built in 1700–1720 for Count Raimondo Buonaccorsi and his son Cardinal Simone Buonaccorsi using designs by Giovanni Battista Contini. The piano nobile is known for the ''Sala dell'Eneide'' (Hall of the Aeneid), decorated with frescoes depicting episodes of the [[Aeneid]] depicted by [[Carlo Antonio Rambaldi|Rambaldi]], [[Antonio Dardani|Dardani]], [[Francesco Solimena|Solimena]], and canvases by [[Luigi Garzi|Garzi]] and [[Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole]]. Among the museum's masterpieces is the Renaissance work of the ''Madonna and Child'' by [[Carlo Crivelli]].

The [[Biblioteca Comunale Mozzi Borgetti]], the main civic library of Macerata, founded in the 18th century, is housed in the former Jesuit seminary, located on Piazza Vittorio Veneto.

The [[University of Macerata]] was founded in 1290 and has about 13,000 students; Macerata also has an [[art school]], two publishing houses (Liberilibri and Quodlibet), [[jazz]] clubs and the like.

Just north of the town, at the Villa Potenza, lie the remains of ancient [[Helvia Recina]], a [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] settlement destroyed by the [[Visigoth]]s.
 
Among the churches in the town are:
*[[Macerata Cathedral]]: built in Neoclassical style in 1771–1790; it has the remains of a 15th-century Gothic bell tower. The interior was designed by [[Cosimo Morelli]].
*[[San Claudio al Chienti]]: [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] church south of the Town. Its unusual shape is due to one church being built on the remains of another. It was built during the 14th century as war reparation to Montolmo (today's [[Corridonia]]), which defeated Macerata in a bloody and long war. ''San Claudio al Chienti'' is very close to Macerata, but it has been a ''frazione'' of [[Corridonia]] since that time.
*[[San Filippo Neri, Macerata|San Filippo Neri]]
*[[San Giorgio, Macerata|San Giorgio]]
* [[Santi Giovanni Battista e Giovanni Evangelista, Macerata|Santi Giovanni]]
*[[Santa Maria della Misericordia, Macerata|Santa Maria della Misericordia]]
*[[Santa Maria della Porta, Macerata|Santa Maria della Porta]]
*[[Santo Stefano, Macerata|Santo Stefano]]
*[[San Paolo, Macerata|San Paolo]]
[[File:Helvia Recina.jpg|thumb|520x520px|The Roman settlement of [[Helvia Recina]]]]

== Macerata Opera Festival ==
{{see also|Macerata Opera|Sferisterio di Macerata}}
[[File:Macerata mac1.jpg|thumb|Macerata principal tower.]]
[[File:Sferisterio by night 1.jpg|thumb|''Sferisterio'' open-air theatre.]]
{{Unreferencedsect|date=August 2024}}
In July and August, the [[Sferisterio Opera Festival]] is held in the 2,500 seat [[Sferisterio Opera Festival|Arena Sferisterio]]. It is a huge [[neoclassicism|neoclassical]] [[arena]] erected in the 1820s as a [[stadium]] for a form of [[Team handball|handball]] by the architect Ireneo Aleandri. The [[orchestra pit]] is so wide that musicians at each end cannot hear each other.

The first opera performed here was [[Giuseppe Verdi]]'s ''[[Aida]]'' in 1921. It was promoted by the association "Società Cittadina" led by Count Pieralberto Conti. The arena was transformed into a real outdoor theatre with an enormous parabolic stage. The orchestra was placed immediately behind it and the seats were located around it. In the middle of the front sidewall a large door was built that allowed the entrance of the Egyptian conqueror. Posters were created by [[Verona]]'s official ''Aida'' employee Plino Codognato and the painter [[Emilio Lazzari]]. The opera and its Triumphal March employed many people (in addition to about one thousand props and also different animals such as horses and camels). Francisca Solari interpreted ''Aida'' and Alessandro Dolci sang the great tenor role in the robes of [[Radames]]. The hospitality of Macerata grew quickly and new ways were developed to induce people to stay longer in the town, so the opera was repeated 17 times with more than seventy thousand attendees. The next year the opera ''[[La Gioconda (opera)|La Gioconda]]'' was sung. Until 1927 no more shows were performed, at which time the famous tenor [[Beniamino Gigli]] sang a unique concert for the invalids of [[World War I]].

From [[World War II]] until the 1960s, it was rare to have operas in the local "Bel Canto". In 1967, Carlo Perucci, a native of [[San Benedetto del Tronto]] ([[Marche]]), established the first stable local band with the song ''Circuito lirico delle Marche'', so when he was in Macerata he asked the city hall to offer new performances. With enthusiasm the local administrators allowed him to offer new extraordinary contracts: Giuseppe Verdi's ''[[Otello]]'' (with Del Monaco and Protti), and Giacomo Puccini's ''[[Madama Butterfly]]'' (with Antonietta Stella and Nicola Ruggeri). Finally, on 3 August, the musical season began, and continues to today.

Overall the Sferisterio is very relevant, compared sometimes to Italy's famous ''[[Arena di Verona]]'' and ''[[Caracalla]]'' operas. During this period, about 28 years, when Carlo Perucci was artistic director, the "Sferisterio" Arena, because of its perfect acoustics, housed the most important international voices of ''bel canto''. Ballets with Fracci and [[Rudolf Nureyev|Nureyev]] were performed. The presentations of ''[[Bohème]]'' by [[Ken Russell]] in 1984 and Enrico Job's ''[[Don Giovanni]]'' were particularly memorable. Other outstanding shows were ''[[La traviata]]'' and ''[[Lucia di Lammermoor]]'', with stage design by Czech scenographer [[Josef Svoboda]], Hugo De Ana's ''[[Turandot]]'' and De Flò's ''[[Faust (opera)|Faust]]'' and ''[[Tosca]]''. In the late nineties, led by Orazi as artistic director, the most important singers of the world performed in the Macerata Opera, performing in both the Sferisterio and the Lauro Rossi theaters: [[Franco Corelli]],<ref> Vinzenzo Ramon Bisogni: Franco Corelli Irrestistbile tenore, pages 123-124</ref> [[Birgit Nilsson]],<ref> Birgit Nilsson: La Nilsson. My Life in Opera, pages 200-202</ref> [[Luciano Pavarotti]], [[Plácido Domingo]],  [[Montserrat Caballé]], [[Marilyn Horne]], [[Fiorenza Cossotto]], [[Ruggero Raimondi]], [[Mariella Devia]], José Carreras, [[Katia Ricciarelli]], [[Renato Bruson]], and [[Raina Kabaivanska]].

Since 1990, some operas have been performed in the 550-seat Teatro Lauro Rossi following extensive renovation, which was completed in 1989. Originally named the Teatro dei Condomini and built by Cosimo Morelli on a project by Antonio Bibiena in 1767, it opened in 1774 with [[Pasquale Anfossi]]'s ''Olimpiade''. In 1872, it was renamed after the musician Lauro Rossi who was born in the town.

This positive situation made the Sferisterio Opera a success. By 1992 the organization had won the "Franco Abbiati award of Italian musical Critics" three times. Other prestigious Italian lyric events reproduce the Sferisterio's events: Opera di Roma, [[Teatro Comunale di Bologna]] and [[La Scala]] di Milano.

2006 was the year of transformation led by the new artistic director Pier Luigi Pizzi. The summer event became a "Festival". He gave all of his 50 years of experience. Pizzi's career as the opera's director, designer, and dresser earned many awards. The season started with a dominant theme that marks all the shows and their sets. The parabolic stage was recovered, reviving the old atmosphere of the Handball Stadium. In that year, [[Mozart]]'s 250th anniversary, the theme of "initiatory journey" opened with the ''[[Magic Flute]]'' by the Austrian musician. From that moment in every season the choice of operas was marked by a ''fil rouge'' theme, demonstrating the great intellectual vitality of opera: ''il Gioco dei Potenti'' in 2007 with ''[[Macbeth]]'', ''[[Maria Stuarda]]'', ''[[Norma (opera)|Norma]]'' and the gala dance with [[Roberto Bolle]] and [[Alessandra Ferri]]; "La seduzione" in 2008 when the two-time Oscar-winning citizen of Macerata, [[Dante Ferretti]], was hired as director; ''L'inganno'' in 2009 with ''[[Don Giovanni]]'' and ''[[Madama Butterfly]]''.
[[File:Chiesa di San Filippo Neri a Macerata.jpg|thumb|'''Chiesa di San Filippo Neri''']]

== Macerata–Loreto pilgrimage ==
Every year since 1978, a 27&nbsp;km pilgrimage from Macerata to [[Loreto, Marche|Loreto]] has taken place on the first Saturday of June after school has finished. Though it attracts believers from all over the world, those from neighbouring cities and [[Italian regions|regions]] are especially numerous. Its main purpose is to revive an old tradition of gratitude of students to [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Mary]] for the end of the school year. Each iteration, more pilgrims have taken part, their number having grown from just three hundred to sixty thousand pilgrims.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pellegrinaggio.org/388-il-pellegrinaggio-a-piedi-da-macerata-a-loreto|title=Il Pellegrinaggio a Piedi da Macerata a Loreto}}</ref> Overnight, participants are led through the hills along a road traditionally held to be a Marian path. A rood donated by [[Pope John Paul II]], who chaired at the Mass in 1993, heads the procession.{{cn|date=August 2024}} The night march is diligently guided and accompanied by recitations of the Rosary, songs, testimonies, meditations on the Word of God and the teachings of the Pope.

== Cuisine ==
Local specialities include vincisgrassi alla maceratese, a regional version of [[lasagna]] that differs from the usual in that the ragù contains a mix of pork, beef and lamb.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lonelyplanet.com/italy/macerata/in-location/eating/a/nar/40573e95-bb7f-4aa3-a28c-6da01a4daae3/360077|title=Eating in Macerata}}</ref>

== Notable people  ==
* [[Enrico Accorretti]] (1888–1978), admiral during [[World War II]]
* [[Basilio Basili]] (1804–1895), opera singer and composter was born in Macerata in 1804.
* [[Dante Ferretti]] (born 1943), production designer, was born in Macerata.
* [[Pietro Paolo Floriani]] (1585–1638), architect and military engineer was born in Macerata. 
* [[Camila Giorgi]] (born 1991), tennis player
* [[Ivo Pannaggi]], [[Futurism (art)|Futurist]] painter and [[Bauhaus]] architect, was born and died in Macerata (1901–81). A high school in town was dedicated in his name.
*[[Matteo Ricci]] (1552–1610), Jesuit and the first European to enter the Forbidden City in the Chinese capital. 
* [[Giuseppe Tucci]] (1894–1984), scholar of oriental cultures, was born in Macerata.

==Twin towns - sister cities==
Macerata is twinned with:<ref>{{cite web|title=Gemellaggi|url=http://www.comune.macerata.it/aree-tematiche/informati-per-partecipare/relazioni-internazionali/cartella-servizio-relazioni-internazionali/pagine-relative-a-gemellaggi/gemellaggi|website=comune.macerata.it|publisher=Macerata|language=it|access-date=2019-12-16|archive-date=16 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216065401/http://www.comune.macerata.it/aree-tematiche/informati-per-partecipare/relazioni-internazionali/cartella-servizio-relazioni-internazionali/pagine-relative-a-gemellaggi/gemellaggi|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*{{flagicon|GER}} [[Weiden in der Oberpfalz]], Germany, since 1963
*{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Issy-les-Moulineaux]], France, since 1982
*{{flagicon|MLT}} [[Floriana, Malta]], since 2007
*{{flagicon|ALB}} [[Kamëz]], Albania, since 2010

== Sources ==
*E.H. Ercoli. ''Sferisterio''. Macerata, Associazione Arena Sferisterio, 2007
*A. Adversi, D. Cecchi, L. Paci (a cura di). ''Storia di Macerata''. Macerata, 1972
*G. Capici (a cura di). ''Sphaeristerium''. Roma, 1989
*F. Torresi (a cura di). ''La città sul palcoscenico''. Macerata, 1997

==See also==
{{colbegin}}
*[[Macerata railway station]]
*[[S.S. Maceratese 1922]]
*[[Volley Lube]]
*[[Roman Catholic Diocese of Macerata-Tolentino-Recanati-Cingoli-Treia|Diocese of Macerata]]
*[[Madonna with Child (Crivelli)|Madonna di Macerata]]
{{colend}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commons category|Macerata}}
*{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Macerata |volume=17 |short=x}}


<br>
{{Province of Macerata}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Macerata| ]]
[[Category:Cities and towns in Marche]]
[[Category:Hilltowns in Marche]]