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 Ascoli
Piceno, full of treasures, of art and charming views is a small town
embedded between the mountians and the sea, shunning and jealous of
its beauties.
This town, proud of its past, which dates back to the times of the
Piceni, a proud Italic people who strongly resisted and opposed
Rome’s predominance, is a small gem between the mountains and the
sea, less that thirty minutes away by car from the mountains and
from the coast. It is beautiful to lose your way amongst the small
‘Rue’ in discovery of the town, walking in the confined space
between two rivers. You will discover that after one church, there
is another and then a convent, an abbey, a bell tower, an
inscription, a tower, a bridge, a ruin, a wall, an engraved stone,
and after a rua yet another one.
The romanesque style mingles with the baroque, the renaissance with
the gothic.
The town centre is a heart full of shops, taverns, handicrafts
shops, rich in history and traditions. Then suddenly, springing out
from a small street, you will find yourselves blinded by the
magnificant Piazza del Popolo where resting against the 13th century
Palazzo dei Capitani you will find Caffè Meletti, a historic place
famous for its anisette, gleaming with its golds and Art Nouveau
decorations.
In the square, on the first Sunday of August, the Quintana is held,
Ascoli’s palio, with over one thousand walk-on figures dressed up in
medieval costumes, wno parade through the centre and then, divided
into districts, fight each other to earn the painted palio.
But Ascoli is also a junction for picturesque trips in its province,
to visit rocks found on hill tops or the splendid towns, near the
coast, from Fermo to Loreto.
Of great charm, and not only in winter, is a visit to the Sibylline
Mounts, mysterious and apparently impenetrable. They too hold art
treasures and the views of the landscapes are unforgettable. |
