The position of Pesaro, on the principal high road to Loreto and Rome, exposed it to the constant passage of travellers of all ranks. The former was the habitual resort of Roman Catholics, to whom holy impulses, the hope of any specific blessing, or gratitude for mercies vouchsafed, suggested an unusual devotional observance. The annual functions of Easter, St. Peter's day, and Christmas, besides the great occasional jubilees, attracted to the latter crowds of pious pilgrims from all Christendom. The dukes were thus laid open to frequent calls upon their hospitality, which the state maintained by passing visitors often rendered most onerous. Thus, in 1589, Duke Alfonso II. of Ferrara, on his way to and from Loreto, spent four days at Pesaro, with his suite, consisting of fifty carriages, and one hundred and fifty mounted attendants, at an expense to his host of 3000 scudi. All royal pilgrims did not, however, thus mingle worldly pomp with religious duties: ten years after, Ranuccio, Duke of Parma, arrived incognito, in company with three others, who wore red sack dresses, and travelled on foot. After passing the night at Pesaro, they proceeded to Sinigaglia, on their way to the opening of the holy door at Rome, in the jubilee of 1600. Eighteen years later, Francesco Maria's Diary thus notes a more interesting visit: "9th June, 1618, the Galileo arrived at Pesaro, on his return from Loreto to Florence." The philosopher was then resident at the Villa Segni, near his native capital, and suffered much from the effects of a chronic illness caught in Lombardy some years previously, while sleeping with an open window. Perhaps his pilgrimage to the holy house may have been influenced by this circumstance. "'Twas he who, risking life and fame to crush The idol-worship that enslaved mankind, Restored its native freedom to the mind."