Matelica

Matelica is a town in the province of Macerata, in an inland valley of the Marche between the Apennines and the Esino river basin. It was originally a Picene settlement, later a Roman town known as Matilica, and passed through Byzantine and Papal States rule before its citizens rebelled against their feudal counts around 1150, during the reign of Frederick Barbarossa, and formed a free municipality. Matelica is known today as the "City of Verdicchio and Honey" for Verdicchio di Matelica, a white wine produced from a small, roughly 300-hectare growing area and considered distinct from — and sharper in character than — the better-known Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi. Enrico Mattei, later the founder of the Italian energy company ENI, worked as an apprentice in Matelica's tannery industry as a young man, and the town's main square, Piazza Enrico Mattei, is named in his honor.

Piazza Enrico Mattei, the town's main square, is named for the future ENI founder who apprenticed at a local tannery here; it holds the town hall, civic tower, Church of the Suffrage, a market loggia, and an octagonal 16th-century fountain at its centre.

Matelica gives its name to Verdicchio di Matelica, a white wine DOC produced in a small growing area around the town; local wineries and cellars produce and sell it.