The history of a house is inextricably linked to the history of a town and the events that involve its owners, to reconstruct it is often difficult and the history of Villa Fornari, like that of the many Villas that were built in the valleys that surround Camerino in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, is often cloudy and at times completely dark.
From the date found inside the little chapel annexed to the Villa it is inferred that building commenced in the early 1700s.
The first owners
First owned by Emidio Doncecchi, son of Giovanni da Camerino; born in Ascoli Pceno in 1787, he married Rosa Beri, daughter of Giuseppe Beri and Candida Romiti. The Beri family was one of the richest and most prominent families in eighteenth century Camerino. After the death of Doncecchi, ownership passed to his wife Rosa Beri, who after two years married Carlo Fornari.
The Fornaris, from Fabriano, were industrialists in the leather and paper industry; their progenitor was Antonio Fornari, the first person to use a filigree mark in the paper industry (the Vitruvius Codex in the Vatican library). When Rosa Beri died ownership passed to her husband Carlo and their son Lamberto.
Camerino’s most important public figures stayed here where some of the most important decisions regarding the town were taken.
The Relais…Today
Thanks to a careful restoration which was undertaken after many years of neglect, transforming it into the elegant Relais it is today, Villa Fornari has been given a new life and welcomes its guests into its refined surroundings.
