Macerata is a historic city with a well-preserved old walled center. There are many historical churches from different eras and mainly Renaissance and Baroque urban buildings.
The city already existed in this place in Roman times. Its remains are the ruins of an ancient theater. In reference to it, an open Sferisterio Theater was built in the nineteenth century, where concerts and performances take place to this day.
From the Middle Ages, Macerata was under the influence of the Papal States. Therefore, a large part of its most important monuments are sacred buildings. The most valuable of them are the baroque cathedral of St. Juliana and the 15th-century sanctuary of Our Lady of Mercy, built during the plague.
The Old Town of Macerata is surrounded by defensive walls. Within them, there is a tangle of streets, squares and alleys with city palaces, a Renaissance city loggia and tenement houses. Many of them now have restaurants, cafes and shops.
