Gaspare Spontini was born on November 14^th, 1774, in Maiolati, a “castle” in the countryside of Jesi, in the Marca of Ancona, second born son of Giambattista and Teresa Guadagnini. His family, that originally came from Albacina, belonging to Fabriano’s territory, was called Sponta, that means “spuntò il sol“, (the sun rose), as the family’s coat of arms shows. Only later the diminutive was added, becoming Spontino. Driven by his father to embrace the religious life, following the example of his brothers, Gaspare Spontini, as a child was sent to the church of Santa Maria del Piano, in Jesi, by his fatherly uncle, don Giuseppe Spontini. After a short period of studies, personally supervised by his uncle, Spontini was admitted in the seminar of Jesi, as the headstones laid in 1850 inside the building testifies. Impatient to the ecclesiastical studies, the young Spontini succeeded in attending music lessons and overcoming the opposition of his father, that finally let him free to complete the musical education in Naples.