In 1874, the Provincial administration began the concentration of the Pesaro funds, which were organized by the local scholar Giuliano Vanzolini into a single documentary complex that was given the name “Archivio storico metaurense”. Following the establishment of the State Archives of Pesaro in 1955, this complex constituted an initial archive nucleus into which, over time, other documentation from offices and institutions of the province of Pesaro and Urbino flowed.
In reorganizing the Historical Archives of Metaurense, four different funds were identified. The oldest is the archive of the Dukes of Urbino, which dates back to 1526. It consists exclusively of the papers remaining from the transfer of the Della Rovere archive to Florence, which took place in 1795. In that year, in fact, the Grand Duke of Tuscany claimed the archive as part of the freehold assets that, following the marriage of Vittoria della Rovere to Ferdinando II de’ Medici in 1634, had been inherited by the Florentine family. The largest part of the archive of the Dukes of Urbino is therefore preserved in the State Archives of Florence.
The archive of the Apostolic Legation of Urbino and Pesaro (from 1631, the year of the devolution of the duchy to the Holy See), a group of funds from offices of the Italian Kingdom and the archive of the Apostolic Delegation of the first and second Restoration were also attached to the Metauro Historical Archive.
The State Archives of Pesaro also preserve the judicial funds of the city and other localities in the province. The documentary material of the religious corporations is precious: among all, we mention the archive of the Abbey of Santa Croce di Fonte Avellana with parchment documents dating back to the 11th century; the archive of the Abbey of Santa Maria di Sitria (papers dating back to 1420) as well as copies of documents from the 14th century; the archive of the Pontifical German-Hungarian College of the Urbe of Pergola and San Lorenzo in Campo (papers starting from 1473) as well as copies of documents dating back to the 13th century.
Also preserved are the notarial funds of Pesaro (1434-1879), Fossombrone (1372-1865), Pennabilli (1454-1860), San Leo (1497-1855), Macerata Feltria (1438-1879), Sant’Agata Feltria (1516-1863), Sant’Angelo in Vado (1496-1872), Mombaroccio (1500-1808), Orciano (1496-1808).
There are also the archives of the Police Headquarters, the Military District, the Provincial Labor Office, the Court, the Chamber of Commerce, the Civil Engineering Department, the Papal Land Registry, the Land and Building Registry and the Provincial Administration.
State Archives Information System, State Archives of Pesaro-Urbino
