FANUM FORTUNAE (mod.

Fano)  , an ancient town of Umbria, Italy, at the point where the Via Flaminia reaches the N.E. coast of Italy . Its name shows that it was of Roman origin, but of its foundation we know nothing . It is first mentioned, with Pisaurum and Ancona, as held by Julius Caesar in 49 B.C . Augustus planted a colony there, and round it constructed a wall (of which some remains exist), as is recorded in the inscription on the triple arch erected in his honour at the entrance to the town (A.D . 9-10), which is still standing . Vitruvius tells us that there was, during Augustus's lifetime, a temple in his honour and a temple of Jupiter, and describes a basilica of which he himself was the architect . The arch of Augustus bears a subsequent inscription in honour of Constantine, added after his death by L . Turcius Secundus, corrector Flaminiae et Piceni, who also constructed a colonnade above the arch . Several Roman statues and heads, attributable to members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, were found in the convent of S . Filippo in 1899 . These and other objects are now in the municipal museum (E . Brizio in Notizie degli scavi, 1899, 249 seq.) .

Of the temple of

Fortune from which the town took its name no traces have been discovered . (T .