Arch of Augustus (Fano)

In the Roman period it was the principal gate of Colonia Julia Fanestris, a colonia established in the town of Fanum Fortunae (temple of Fortuna) by the Roman architect Vitruvius at the command of the Emperor Augustus, in commemoration of the victory over the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal Barca in the Battle of Metauro during the Second Punic War.

Constructed at the point at which the Via Flaminia met the decumanus maximus of the city, the monument is dated to AD 9 by means of an inscription located on the frieze, with large characters carved in the rock which were once gilded in bronze.

[1] In 1463, during the siege of the city in order to expel its lord Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, the artillery of Federico da Montefeltro, destroyed the attic of the monument.

The original appearance of the gate is recorded in the Renaissance bass relief carved on one side of the facade of the church.

The main body, still well preserved, supported a large attic which is now lost, with a Corinthian pseudo-portico, in which there were seven arched windows separated by eight pseudo-columns.