But Fano also means sea, with a coastline stretching for nearly 20 kilometers, with sandy and pebble beaches, equipped and free, particularly suitable for families, children and four-legged friends. Fano is a city suitable for everyone, awarded with the Blue Flag mark for its clean sea and safe shallow waters. It has an ancient fishing tradition and still today the area near the sea shows the signs of this tradition. Starting from the Burgeois Darsena, the first port of the city, built in the XVII century, are still clearly visible areas such as “El Gugùl”, namely the fisherman’s houses, the characteristic “Quadri”, the fishing port and the modern tourist port of “Marina dei Cesari”, with its suggestive “walk of Lisippo”.

Fano has also the Carnival tradition (one of the oldest in Italy, since 1347) with its great typical allegorical floats with parades and the typical “Getto dei Dolciumi” that means the throwing of sweets from the passing floats to people.

The extraordinary surrounding area reaches the Apennines and includes landscapes and historical villages,  set like gems in the gentle hills, planted with vines and olive trees along the Via Flaminia, that for over two thousand years has been connecting Fano to Rome, along the valleys of the rivers Metauro and Cesano

Typical seafood dishes, like the “Brodetto di Pesce” or the coffee “Moretta Fanese”, the DOP oil of Cartoceto and the wine called “Bianchello del Metauro”, together with the truffle of the hinterland, make the city of Fano and its surroundings a reality with a unique flavour, with a special identity, really not to be missed!

Fano has been also the “City of Children – Città dei bambini e delle bambine” since 1991 starting from an  innovative project that places children at the centre of the city, with the power to actively participate in its life and construction, through the ‘Council of Children and Infants’. In fact, Fano is one of the first Italian cities to include in its statute a specific article dedicated to this Council, a place for listening to the desires and needs of the youngest.

As seen from a totally new perspective, the city slows down the pace, leaves room for meeting, for play, for those left behind. Hence the idea of WONDER project based on the assumption ‘A city suitable for children is more suitable for everyone’.Thanks to WONDER Fano was also able to systematise an integrated tourist offer for children.Hotels, agritourisms, B&Bs and campsites have a series of dedicated services such as the adequacy of rooms, the presence of compliant safety systems, the pushchairs and bicycles rent, etc.Bathing establishments have play and entertainment areas, but also safety and reception services with baby changing tables, bottle warmers, etc.

Finally, the restaurants are ready to welcome the youngest and their parents with suitable and entertaining menus, games to fill the waiting time, and reserved areas.In addition to those services, the city of Fano offers a number of places where families can spend hours of fun and relax. The Memo Montanari, Casa Archilei, and the Bali Museum are just a few examples of places where music, history, literature, food and wine, and sport can be enjoyed all year round, with initiatives and locations specifically dedicated to families and children, creating a calendar of events dedicated to them.

Certainly, in the summer time, is easier find in Fano some things to do but in the other seasons you can visit historical sites in a child-friendly way and participate in activities and laboratory in library or other cultural public places:

• Fano’s archaeological museum offers didactic activities for schools, tourists and children, including special workshops.
• The Mediateca Montanari Memo is a multimedia library of general information, where you can found books for children in a special room and where periodically experts read and play together whit children and their parents.
• the Museo del Balì is an interactive Science-Center created with the aim of stimulating and promoting the intrest in scientific culture in central Italy. It is installed in the splendid setting of the 18th-century Villa del Balì and thus situated in an area with a rich historical and cultural legacy. People of all ages can come: the Museum is a magical place for children, it’s original for young ones and surprising for adults. There is only one rule: hands-on!

All the events of Fano are publicized in specific site and you can find them in http://destinazionefano.it/ and in https://cittadeibambini.comune.fano.pu.it/ .

In Fano they established a network of conscious operators (restaurants, hotels, bathing establishments and cultural and nature associations) for the development and promotion of the new “Fano Family Tourist Destination” local brand. The operators were trained on “child-friendly” tourist reception methodologies and signed a special “Disciplinary” aimed at establishing the local network. An identifying logo for the network was then launched to be displayed with window decals and/or hard plates at their respective facilities.

They produced a personalized “child-friendly” welcome kit for tourists (families) to be used at the facilities belonging to the network.  The main purpose of this kit was to stimulate the operator’s propensity to invest in their economic activities not only in terms of knowledge and awareness, but also in welcoming and improving their services and products.

They also made a touristic itinerary of the city designed for children with drawings and stories related to every single landmark in the city and MEMOBIKE, a traveling cargo-bike to promote reading among Fano children and tourists in the summer season, and not only, along the beaches and neighborhoods.