A Jacobite Gazetteer - Italy

Pesaro

The town of Pesaro is located on the east coast of Italy, 130 kilometres east of the city of Florence. Today, as in the eighteenth century, it is a seaside holiday town.

Members of the Royal Family have visited the town on numerous occasions. ¹ King James III and VIII first came here for Holy Week in March 1717 (when he was living in the town of Urbino only 30 kilometres away).

Palazzo Almerici

Facade of Palazzo Almerici

In May 1717 James returned to Pesaro, this time as the guest of Donna Giulia Albani, wife of Giovanni Andrea Abati Olivieri, Noble of Pesaro, and aunt of Pope Clement XI. James stayed at Palazzo Almerici, located at Via Mazza 97. ² In the main staircase of the palace is a black marble inscription which records the visit. The inscription (now somewhat damaged on the left side) is located high up on the left wall of the first ramp above several fragments of classical sculpture.

Inscription in Palazzo Almerici

D. O. M.
{JACOBUS} III ANGLIÆ REX, PISAVRICVM ESSET ANNO MDCCXVII.
HANC DOMVM.
VLTRO INEXPECTATVSQVE SVBVYT
DVODECIMO KALENDAS IVNY,
ET IVLIAM ALBANI CLEMENTIS XI PONT. MAX. AMITAM
HONORIS CAUSA INVISENS
{AETA}TE IAM GRAVEM, ET AD ANNOS LXXXVIII FELICITER PROVECTAM
REGALI PRÆSENTIA RECREAVIT.
MALATESTA DE ABBATIBVS OLIVERIUS EIVSDEM IVLIÆ FILIVS,
ET PONTIFICYS IN PICENO COPYS PRÆFECTVS,
AD POSTEROS MONIMENTVM P.

The palace now houses the Biblioteca Oliveriano and the Museo Archeologico Oliveriano. The library is open 9.00 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. and 2.30 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 9.00 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. Saturday. The museum is open daily (except Sundays and holidays) from 9.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon. (and 4.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. July 1 to September 15). Telephone: 0721/33344.

Facade of Palazzo Ducale

Palazzo Ducale

In October 1722 James brought his wife Queen Clementina here, staying for several days at the Palazzo Ducale as the guest of Monsignor (later Cardinal) Alamanno Salviati. Monsignor Salviati was President of Urbino, and had formerly served as Vice-Legate in Avignon when James was residing there in 1716 and 1717.

Today the Palazzo Ducale serves as the seat of the Prefettura. In the office of the Segretario Comunale (a town official) hangs a portrait of an unidentified man; ³ it is clearly a copy of one of several portraits of King James III and VIII by Alexis Simon Belle. ⁴ James is portrayed half-length, with his body facing left and his head forward. He is dressed in armour and wears the sash of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.

Portrait of King James III and VIII

Villa Cattani Stuart

In 1726, while travelling from Rome to Bologna, James stayed at Villa Cattani Stuart, located just south of Pesaro at Via Trebbiantico 67. At the time the villa was used as the country residence of Monsignor Salviati. A Latin inscription over the main door of the villa records James' visit:

D· O· M·
EXIGVAM HANC VILLAM,
A CAROLO CATTANIO SIBI CONDITAM;
AB ALAMANNO SALVIATO,
VRBINI PRESIDE VIGILANTISSIMO
PER DECEM FERE ANNOS
VERNO AVTVMNALIQ: TEMPORE INHABITATAM;
IACOBVS III ANGLIE REX
ROMA BONONIAM PERRECTVRVS
QVO DIE PISAVRI STETIT,
VISERE MAIOREMQ. INDE REDDERE NON EST DEDIGNATVS
NON. OCT. A. S. M DCCXXVI.
PETRVS CANONICVS CATANIVS CAROLI FI.
AD PERENNE SUE FAMILIE DECVS
HOC POSVIT MONUMENTUM

Today the villa is a conference centre (website: www.villacattani.it; telephone: 39.0721.55782.) It can easily be reached by taking bus no. 10 from the train station.

Charles, Prince of Wales (later King Charles III) visited Pesaro at least twice. The first time was on his 1737 trip throughout Italy; he was the guest at Pesaro of Monsignor (later Cardinal) Federico Marcello Lante Montefeltro della Rovere, President of Urbino, May 3, 1737. ⁵ Charles returned to Pesaro in 1743. His brother the Duke of York (later King Henry IX and I) visited Pesaro in 1752. ⁶

Notes

¹ Cf. Gianluca Montinaro, "I soggiorni pesaresi di Giacomo III d'Inghilterra", Pesaro, città e contà 11 (2000): 121-132.

² Antonio Brancati, La Biblioteca e i musei Oliveriani di Pesaro (Pesaro: Banca Popolare Pesarese, 1976): 68.

³ Dipinti e Disegni della Pinacoteca Civica di Pesaro, edited by Claudio Giardini, Emilio Negro, and Massimo Pirondini (Modena: Artioli, 1993): 241.

⁴ The oval portrait measuress 75 cm high and 53 cm wide. Alexis-Simon Belle was born in Paris in 1674, and died in the same city in 1734. In spite of the fact that he won the Prix de Rome, he chose not to train at Rome but rather to remain in France. In 1701 he moved to Saint-Germain-en-Laye where he worked for the English and Scottish court. He painted at least ten portraits of King James III and VIII, as well as others of his parents and his sister Princess Louise-Marie. Other portraits of James by Belle can be seen at the Oratorio di San Giuseppe in Urbino, at the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj in Rome, and at the Hôtel Charost and the Scots Collegein Paris.

⁵ Frank McLynn, Charles Edward Stuart: A Tragedy in Many Acts (London: Routledge, 1988): 50.

⁶ Montinaro, 129.

Image 4 (Portrait of King James III and VIII): © Noel S. McFerran 2004. I express my gratitude to Gianluca Montinaro of the University of Urbino for his assistance in obtaining permission for me to see and photograph the portrait.