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This small agricultural and commercial centre in mountain country, has a most attractive centro storico and a wealth of churches and merchants houses that bear witness to the town's boom years during the 16th-18th centuries.
Here was also the birthplace of a number of important Baroque artists and architects including the brothers Taddeo and Federico Zuccari, who achieved fame
in Rome during the second half of the 16th century.
The town was once the Roman Tiphernum Metaurense and when rebuilt after the wars between the Byzantines and Ostrogoths was dedicated to the
Archangel Michael, hence its name Sant'Angelo.
Look out for the 13th century Palazzo della Ragione with its splendid bell-tower and Palazzo Fagnani which houses the town hall and a large Sacra
Conversazione by Federico Zuccari.
Of the many admirable churches the Duomo, with a painting by Gentile da Fabriano, and the church of San Francesco stand out.
One of the most remarkable sights in the town is the Domus del Mito, or House of the Myth, the remains of a 1st century BC Roman villa with some 1,000
square metres of elaborate, polychrome mosaics. Only recently discovered, they represent some of the finest ancient Roman discoveries in central Italy over the last half century.
During the last weekends of October the town hosts the Mostra Nazionale del Tartufo Bianco Pregiato, an excellent chance to taste white truffles and see
the town decked out to look its best.
Nowadays it is also known for its contribution to gastronomy; Italy's first nursery to commercially cultivate the much-prized truffle is here. Sadly,
they don't actually grow the truffles directly. Instead, saplings of selected trees have their roots impregnated with the spores of the underground fungus, then are planted in areas with the very particular
soil necessary.
After a wait of some ten years and much luck, the first truffles are ready to be dug up. The technique has proved so successful that large tracts of the
Umbro-Marchigiani Appennines are being turned over to truffle reserves.
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