Fano is an Italian municipality of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the region Marche.

The town, famous for its Carnival, the oldest of Italy, counts 63.766 inhabitants, making it the third largest city by population in the region Marche, after Ancona and Pesaro.
Of ancient origin of the region Umbria, became a Roman possession, known as Fanum Fortunae, name that refers to the " Temple of Fortuna ", probably erected bearing witness to the battle of the Metaurus: it was the year 207 BC and the Roman legions routed with the army of Carthaginian General Hasdrubal, killing the leader who, after crossing the Alps with the war elephants, was intended to rejoin his brother Hannibal.

The city of Fano knows a considerable development during the Roman rule due to its strategic location along the road which joined the Tiber Valley to Cisalpine Gaul. In 49 BC Julius Caesar conquers it together with Pesaro, starting so the civil war against his antagonist Pompeius.
Only later Caesar Octavian Augustus provided the settlement with boundary walls (still partially visible) and he elevated the settlement to a Roman colony: Colonia Julia Fanestris.
Some centuries later, in 271 a.C., in its surroundings took place the battle of Fano which marked the end of the attempt of the old German to reach Rome.
However, due to its location in links between North and South Italy, Fano was destroyed by the Goths in 538 and rebuilt by the Byzantine army of Belisario and NARSES.
Subsequently joined the "Maritime Pentapoli" (Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Senigallia, Ancona) of which got the head. Later on Fano underwent the occupation of the Longobards and the Franks until Otto III donated the town to Pope Sylvester II.
In the 13th century Fano became municipality, in the following century it was briefly under the Dominion of the Ducal family of Este, after that it was torn by the internal fighting between two families: the del Cassero and the da Carignano.
At the end of the 12th century, the city passed under the domain of the Malatesta family of Rimini, this due to a conspiracy hatched by the Malatesta against the two rival families.
The Malatesta family remained in power until 1463 when Sigismondo Malatesta, had to leave Fano to the Duke of Urbino Federico da Montefeltro after a long siege.
The population of the city refused to join the Duchy of Urbino and therefore the town became ecclesiastical Vicariate.
During the Napoleonic occupation of the Papal States, Fano was plundered and severely bombed by the army of Bonaparte.

Fano participated actively in the motions of the Risorgimento with the establishment of provisional governments.
During World War I (1915-1918) Fano underwent numerous Austrian Naval bombardment.
Also during the second World War (1940-1945) lying on the Gothic line, Fano underwent numerous Allied aerial attacks aimed at the destruction of its rail and road and bridges and from the German army during its retreat, the destruction of all its bell towers, of the civic Tower, the donjon of the Malatesta fortress and of its fishing port, deemed by the enemy critical infrastructure to not leave in the hands of the allies.
Fanum Fortunae was definitely, in the Roman era, an important holy centre, in fact the city shows in its name (Fanum) a clear reference to a sacred area or temple dedicated to the cult of the goddess Fortuna.
Since 80-70 BC the Roman presence in Fano is to be considered certain.
The peak of the Roman presence is during the Imperial Augustan period, in fact go back at that time a large number of monuments.

Monuments:
- The Augustus Arch
- Ancient town wall
- Rocca Malatestiana
- Porta della Mandria
- Foundation and Decuman of the old Roman history
- Via Flaminia
- Palazzo del Podestà
- Palazzo Montevecchio
- Palazzo Martinozzi

Churches:
- Chiesa di Sant'Agostino
- Santuario della Beata Vergine del Ponte Metauro
- Eremo di Monte Giove
- Chiesa di Santa Maria Nuova
- Chiesa di San Pietro in Valle
- Chiesa di San Paterniano
- Chiesa di San Francesco

Events:
- Carnival
- Fano dei Cesari
- Fano Jazz