ASCOLI  PICENO' (anc . Asculum), a

town and episcopal see of the Marches, Italy, the capital of the province of Ascoli Piceno, 17 m . W. of Porto d' Ascoli (a station on the coast railway, 56 m . S.S.E. of Ancona), and 53 M . S. of Ancona direct, situated on the S. bank of the Tronto (anc . Truentus) at its confluence with the Castellano, 5oo ft. above sea-level, and surrounded by lofty mountains . Pop . (1901) town, 12,256; commune, 28,608 . The Porta Romana is a double-arched Roman gate; adjacent are remains of the massive ancient city walls, in rectangular blocks of stone 2 ft. in height, and remains of still earlier fortifications have been found at this point (F . Barnabei in Notizie degli scavi, 1887, 252) . The church of S . Gregorio is built into a Roman tetrastyle Corinthian temple, two columns of which and the cilia are still preserved; the site of the Roman theatre can be distinguished; and the church and convent of the Annunziata (with two fine cloisters and a good fresco by Cola d' Amatrice in the refectory) are erected upon large Roman substructures of concrete, which must have supported some considerable building .

Higher up is the

castle, which now shows no traces of fortifications older than medieval; it commands a fine view of the town and of the mountains which encircle it . The town has many good pre-Renaissance buildings; the picturesque colonnaded market-place contains the fine Gothic church of S . Francesco and the original Palazzo del Comune, now the prefecture (Gothic with Renaissance additions) . The cathedral is in origin Romanesque,2 but has been much altered, and was restored in 1888 by Count Giuseppe Sacconi (1855-1905) . The frescoes in the dome, of the same date, are by Cesare Mariani . The cope presented to the cathedral treasury by Pope Nicholas 1V. was stolen in 1904, and sold to Mr J . Pierpont Morgan, who generously returned it to the Italian government, and it was then placed for greater safety in the Galleria Corsini at Rome . The baptistery still preserves its ancient character; and the churches of S . Vittore and SS . Vincenzo ed Anastasio are also good Romanesque buildings . The fortress of the Malatesta, constructed in 1349, has been in the main destroyed; the part of it which remains is now a prison . The present Palazzo Comunale, a Renaissance edifice, contains a fine museum, chiefly remarkable for the contents of prehistoric tombs found in the district (including good bronze fibulae, necklaces, amulets, &c., often decorated with amber), and a large collection of acorn-shaped lead missiles (glandes) used by stingers, belonging to the time of the siege of Asculum during the Social War (89 B.C.) .

There is also a picture

gallery containing works by local masters, Pietro Alamanni, Cola d' Amatrice, Carlo Crivelli, &c . The bridges across the ravines which defend the town are of consider-able importance; the Ponte di Porta Cappucina is a very fine Roman bridge, with a single arch of 71 ft. span . The Ponte di Cecco (so named from Cecco d' Ascoli), with two arches, is also Roman and belongs to the Via Salaria; the Ponte Maggiore and the Ponte Cartaro are, on the other hand, medieval, though the latter perhaps preserves some traces of Roman work . Near Ascoli is Castel Trosino, where an extensive Lombard necropolis of the 7th century was discovered in 1895; the contents of the tombs are now exhibited in the Museo Nazionale delle Terme at Rome (Notizie degli scavi, 1895, 35) . The ancient Asculum was the capital of li'icenum, and it ' The epithet distinguishes it from Ascoti Satriano (anc . Ausculum), which lies 19 m . S. of Foggia by rail . 2 It contains a fine polyptych by Carlo Crivelli (1473).occupied a strong position in the centre of difficult country . It was taken in 268 B.C. by the Romans, and the Via Salaria was no doubt prolonged thus far at this period; the distance from Rome is 120 M . It took a prominent part in the Social War against Rome, the proconsul Q . Servilius and all the Roman citizens within its walls being massacred by the inhabitants in go B.C . It was captured after a long siege by Pompeius Strabo in 8g B.C .

The

leader, Judacilius, committed suicide, the principal citizens were put to death, and the rest exiled . The Roman general celebrated his triumph on the 25th of December of that year . Caesar occupied it, however, as a strong position after crossing the Rubicon; and it received a Roman colony, perhaps under the triumvirs, and became a place of some importance . In A.D . 301 it became the capital of Picenum Suburbicarium . In 545 it was taken by Totila, but is spoken of by Paulus Diaconus as the chief city of Picenum shortly afterwards . From the time of Charlemagne it was under the rule of its bishops, who had the title of prince and the right to coin money, until 1185, when it became a free republic . It had many struggles with Fermo, and in the 15th century came more directly under the papal sway . See N . Persichetti in Romische Mitteilungen (1903), 295 seq . (T .