Vitiges destroyed it; Belisarius restored it.
After the fall of the Gothic power, Pesaro was incorporated in the Exarchate, and together with four other cities on the Adriatic--Ancona, Fano, Sinigaglia, and Rimini--constituted the Pentapolis.

When Ravenna fell into the hands of the Lombard King Aistulf, Pesaro also became Lombard; but later, by the deed of Pipin and Charles, it passed into the possession of the Pope.
The subsequent history of the city is interwoven with that of the Empire, the Church and the March of Ancona.

For a long time imperial counts resided there.

Innocent III invested its title in Azzo d'Este, the Lord of the March.

During the struggles of the Hohenstaufen with the papacy it first was in the possession of the emperor and later in that of the Pope, who held it until the end of the thirteenth century, when the Malatesta became podestas, and subsequently lords of the city.