PESARO, a city and seaport of the Marches, Italy (anc. Pisaurum), the capital of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, situated on the coast of the Adriatic 37 m. N.W. of Ancona by rail, on the right bank of the Foglia, the ancient Pisaurus. The ground on which it is built is only from 1 o to 4o ft. above the sea, but it is surrounded by hills. Upon the Coles S. Bartolo stands the Villa Imperiale, the foundation stone of which was laid by the emperor Frederick III., built by the Sforza, and decorated with fine stucco ceilings and wall paintings and pavements of majolica plaques. A new palace was begun in 153o by the Genga for Eleonora Gonzaga, but never finished. (See B. Patzak, Villa Imperiale in Pesaro, 1908.) The city walls were in 183o trans formed into a public promenade. The cathedral of the Annuncia tion has a 4th century mosaic pavement under the present one. There are a number of smaller churches with Gothic portals. The most conspicuous buildings are the prefecture (a palace originally erected in 1455-1465 for the Sforza, and restored by Francesco Maria della Rovere in the 16th century, which contains various antiquities, a picture gallery and a fine collection of majolica [the best in Italy] from the old Urbino and other manufactories) the fortress of Rocca Costanza (built by Costanzo Sforza in Laurana being the architect) and the large lunatic asylum.
The composer Gioacchino Rossini, who was a native of Pesaro, left all his fortune to found a musical school in the city. The Museo Mosca, left by its owner to the town, contains collections of faience, furniture, etc. Pesaro is the centre of a rich agri cultural district and is also a sea bathing resort. Pop. (1931), 14,876 (town) ; (commune).
Destroyed by Vitiges the Goth, the town was restored and strengthened by Belisarius, and afterwards along with Ancona, Fano, Senigallia and Rimini formed the Pentapolis Maritima. In the course of the 13th century Pesaro was sometimes under the government of the popes, sometimes under that of the emperors; but the Malatesta family, which first took root in the city about 1285, gradually became the real masters of the place. In they sold their rights to Francesco Sforza and in 1512, through the influence of Julius II., the Sforza were supplanted by his nephew Francesco Maria, duke of Urbino. Pesaro became the residence of the dukes of Urbino till the death of Francesco Maria II. in 1631, when it reverted to the States of the Church.