With a population of about 50,000, Senigallia is a modern seaside resort with all kinds of sports facilities, a tourist port with moorings for 300 boats, 13 km of fine sandy beach against a background of pleasant hillsides often immortalized by the photographer Mario Giacomelli.
Its history goes back to 2000 B.C. when it was founded by the Liburnians. After the Etruscan period, the Gauls established a village there called “Sena”; later the Romans conquered the area from the Gauls and in 290 A.D. they called it “Sena-gallica”. With Charlemagne the town came under the dominion of the Church until, in 1106, it became a free municipality. From 1414 to 1631 it was under the dominion of the Della Rovere family. The port of Senigallia became the centre of maritime trade for the Duchy of Urbino and, after the devolution of 1631, it extended this function to the whole of the Papal State. The town’s commercial centre was the famous “Maddalena Fair”, which was granted the same free-trade concession as that enjoyed by the port, to reach its peak importance from the mid 17th century to the end of the 18th, during which period over 50 thousand foreigner visitors would come in from central and southern Italy, central Europe and the East. In confirmation of its fame Carlo Goldoni set one of his musical comedies called “La Fiera di Sinigallia” in the town.

At the end of the 18th century the town was occupied by Napoleon but in 1815 the Austrians brought it back under the dominion of the Papal State. Later, Senigallia took part in the uprisings of the Risorgimento and became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. It was bombarded by the Austrian fleet in 1915 and in 1944 it was liberated from the retreating German troops by the Allies. After the war, productivity and trade soon recovered as did tourism to an even greater degree.
Piazza del Duca, with its Fountain of the Lions (1596), is dominated by the imposing castle, designed by Baccio Pontelli for Giovanni Della Rovere and erected in 1480. Overlooking the same square is the XVI century Ducal Palace, residence of the duke himself, and the fifteenth century Palazzo Baviera. Of historic interest are, the Foro in neoclassical style (XIX century) and the Ercolani Porticoes along the banks of the River Misa (latter half of the XVIII century).
The sixteenth century Palazzo Mastai, behind the Town Hall, houses the Pius IX Museum containing relics of this Pope born in 1792, and, from Piazza Roma to the left on via Fagnani the elegant façade of the Church of the Cross can be seen. The diocesan Picture Gallery is in Piazza Garibaldi, next to the Cathedral. The cemetery, 3 km away, is next to the Renaissance Church of St. Mary of the Graces (1491); inside there is a painting of the Madonna and the Saints by Il Perugino (1489).
The adjacent convent, with its two elegant cloisters, houses a museum of local farming culture.