The Cathedral of St. Venancio is one of the most important and prestigious churches of the Marche, both for its fine architectural structures and for its works of art.
It was first built in the Upper Medieval times. In 1253 the bishop from Camerino moved the baptismal font from Attigium to the church of St. Venancio, which therefore became more important in the surrounding area.
The church was widened during the 13th century and it got Gothic style shapes that still survive in the polygonal-shaped apse, in the cloister and in the chapel of St. Lawrence, where important frescos by the 14th century painter Allegretto Nuzi are preserved: the life of Saint Lawrence and the fresco representing the Madonna with Child and Saint Venance.
In the Chapel of the Holy Cross you can admire a Crucifixion by Allegretto Nuzi, as well as some frescoes by Giovanni di Corraduccio from Foligno and works by the Master of San Verecondo.
The church was rebuilt during the 17th century by the architect Muzio Oddi and it was adorned by the stuccoes by Francesco Selva. In 1728 it became a cathedral, as Fabriano became the seat of a diocese, and finally, in 1963, it became a basilica.
In the cathedral there are extraordinary works of art in Baroque and Mannerist style, such as the canvases by Gregorio Preti, Giuseppe Puglie, Salvatore Rosa, Giovan Francesco Guerrieri. Particularly valuable are the Passion and Crucifixion scenes, painted around 1620 by the well known painter Orazio Gentileschi, one of Caravaggio's followers.