Fabriano is a town and comune of Ancona province in the Italian region of the Marche, at 325 metres (1,066 ft) above sea level. It lies in the Esino valley 44 kilometres (27 mi) upstream and southwest of Jesi; and 15 kilometres (9 mi) east-northeast of Fossato di Vico and 36 kilometres (22 mi) east of Gubbio (both in Umbria). Its location on the main highway and rail line from Umbria to the Adriatic make it a mid-sized regional center in the Apennines. Fabriano is the headquarters of the giant appliance maker Indesit (partly owned by Whirlpool).
Fabriano, with Roma, Parma, Torino and Carrara, is an Italian creative city (UNESCO). The town is in the category Folk Arts (for the Fabriano's handmade paper production).
Fabriano appears to have been founded in the early Middle Ages by the inhabitants of a small Roman town 5 kilometres (3 mi) south at Attiggio (Latin Attidium), of which some slight remains and inscriptions are extant. In 1276, Fabriano became one of the earliest places in Europe to produce paper.[3] Since the 13th century and even today, the town has a reputation for fine watermarked paper. This led to Fabriano's prosperity in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and was also one of the factors that led to the establishment of nearby Foligno in Umbria as one of the earliest printing centers in Italy in the 15th century, from 1470 onwards.
Palazzo del Podestà (1255) built in white stone from Vallemontagnana and subsequently modified several times. It has a distinctive bridge structure, a memory of the stream which once flowed under it. The central arcade has frescoes from the 13th-14th centuries portraying warriors, and an enigmatic Wheel of Fortune moved by a feminine figure.
Communal Palace (c. 1350, rebuilt in 1690). It was the residence of the Chiavelli family, lords of the city until 1435. In the courtyard is a lapidarium with fragments of buildings of the ancient Roman cities of Attidium (Attiggio), Tuficum (Borgo Tufico) and Sentinum (Sassoferrato).
Albro, Sylvia Rodgers. Fabriano: City of Medieval and Renaissance Papermaking. Washington, DC, and New Castle, DE: Library of Congress and Oak Knoll Press, 2016.