Coffins are permitted only with the approval of the entire community, and must be of pale-coloured wood. In this cemetery as in many others, the deceased were often buried in an upright position, since the ground for burial had to be purchased from the community, and the smaller the area used, the less money had to be paid.
Before its recent renovation, the area was completely overgrown, and the vegetation concealed the heritage found here; renovation brought to light beautiful monuments which have now been cleaned and restored while maintaining the appearance, immersed in nature, which the cemetery has taken on over the years. Once inside the gates, fine trees can be seen growing among the stones, giving the place a particularly romantic appearance.

On the side of San Bartolo hill, on a natural slope facing east, the cemetery bears witness to the centuries-old presence in the city of Pesaro of a nucleus of Jewish families who contributed to the development of the local cultural, civic, and economic identity.
The cemetery was founded in the late seventeenth century by a particularly numerous and flourishing community, enlarged by the arrival of a number of families from Ancona (forced to flee when the district they inhabited was destroyed by a fire) and from Portugal. The importance and the prosperity of this community is evident also in the building of a Sephardic synagogue within the ghetto of Pesaro.
The consecrated area of the cemetery extends for about six thousand seven hundred square metres, facing the sea and turned towards Jerusalem, on a slope which is fashioned into small terraces. Over one hundred and fifty funeral monuments can still be seen, and it is believed there are many more graves which are not visible; burials were not always marked with a stone or stele, as this depended on the economic situation of the deceased’s family.
The area can ideally be divided into three sectors. The upper and oldest sector has numerous upright steles and cylindrical stones, inscribed and decorated. In the central sector are funeral monuments in the classic style; while in the lower sector, which is the most recent, Romanesque and naturalistic forms prevail. All the monuments are made of stone from the local hills – limestone from Piobbico, sandstone, Carrara marble and cipolin. In a traditional burial, the body is wrapped in a shroud and lowered directly into the earth.