The borgo of Montefortino sits on a naturally formed balcony from which vantage point it dominates a breathtaking view over Monti Sibillini, situated on a hill that drops down to the right blank of the Tenna river, opposite Monte Priora.
The hamlet reserves intact the atmosphere of its ancient past. The old town of Montefortino, once surrounded by massive walls, was built by aligning streets and houses along concentric crescents having the existing church of st. Francis at the top.
With subsequent re-arrangements, most of the castle walls became absorbed into the dwellings. Nowadays, thanks to a restoration carried out along some stretches of St. Lucia gate, the ancient swallow-tailed merlons can again be admired; these are proof of the town's Ghibelline past.
These lands were populated by a community of Galli Senoni from the IV century B.C.. Of the whole Gallic territory, Montefortino was, in all likelihood, the most southern Celtic Bastion, on the border with Etruscan and Picene lands. As evidenced by the rich finds unearthed in the Necropolis, the Celts who resided here were very sophisticated and had assimilated the cultures of the nearby Etruscans and the coastal Greeks. In the year 15 B.C. the Roman organisation modelled the area on the Augustan centuriation.
It came into being in the IX century as a little centre attached to the Fermo commune, Montefortino was a free commune in 1084, but soon became a part of the Monte Passilo feud (now Comunanza) from which it got free in 1249.
in 1261, a small army set out from here and together with Amandola and Sarnano's, managed to defeat Manfredi's troops at Piano di Pieca.
In 1318, Fermo came into possession of the commune on condition that it built a fortress and supplied a garrison. However, on the 9th October the same year, a Ferman magistrate took possession of the territories and the Montefortino castles, thus sparking a long diatribe for control of the land; so began a long period of conquests by the various families.
First of all, it came under the control of the Varano di Camerinos, then in the second half of the XV century, it ended up under the Sorzas from Milan, who passed it back to the city of Fermo from which it was freed in 1484 to become part of the Pontifical State.
In 1537, Pope Paul III cancelled every right to the Podestà of the borgo and in 1586 it was incorporated into the Montalto presidium.
In 1860 brought annexation to the Reign of Italy of Vittorio Emanuele II.

Monuments