Matelica lies in an ample valley where the Braccano creek joins the Esino river, dominated by the town from an eastern ravine.

Starting from the 5th century AD, it was seat of a bishop, who for a while remained the only authority, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

[4] From the 9th century, Matelica was under the indirect rule of the Holy Roman Empire (while belonging formally to the Papal States), then becoming a free municipality in 1160.

Since then, Matelica remained part of the Papal States (albeit at times under an independent Governor), until the Italian unification (1861), save for the brief Napoleonic occupation.

The old part of town presents an urban structure dating largely from the Middle Ages, and is punctuated by several palazzi and churches from different periods.