St Mary of Portonovo

. At the end of the road that descends from the Monte Conero ridge, in a natural setting of evocative beauty, stands the church, built in Conero stone in 1034-48, a jewel of Romanesque architecture due to its age and construction peculiarities that make it an almost unique type in the peninsula, also because it is free of alterations. A Benedictine abbey founded with the help of wealthy Ancona families, in 1320 it was abandoned by the monks due to the danger of landslides falling from the Conero. After the fall of the papal government it became an asylum for shepherds and flocks, but towards the end of the last century it was restored by Sacconi and reopened for worship in 1934.