Ascoli Piceno

City of 100 towers

Ascoli Piceno known as the city of 100 towers has a medieval and Renaissance character.

Ascoli Piceno known as the city of 100 towers has a medieval and Renaissance character. Piazza del Popolo has travertine paving and many buildings in the historic centre are build with this sandy-grey travertino marble, extracted from the surrounding mountains and its colour changes as the sun casts different light over it.

The 13th-century Palazzo dei Capitani del Popolo, is a palace built over Roman ruins and many shops have glass floors to display the ancient mosaics beneath them. Ruins and mosaics can be seen in the palace in Piazza de Popolo and in the crypt of the cathedral in Piazza Arringo.

For lovers of antiques, there is an antique market held in the streets on the third weekend in every month which is set up in the medieval centre, and Piazza Arringa. It is a good opportunity to browse and also see beautiful architecture of this splendid town that has many shops, a decorated theatre and a bustling city centre rich in history and is full of ancient monuments and churches.

Carnival celebrations in Italy reach their peak on Giovedì Grasso - Fat Thursday - where people celebrate with buffets, dinners, wines and dance at masked balls. The Ascoli Picena carnival held on fat Thursday, Sunday and Shrove Tuesday evenings in Piazza del Popolo, is decorated with colorful illuminations and chandeliers and becomes a gigantic ballroom, welcoming dancing and party goers until dawn. Many places host masked parties and themed balls.

During the festival food plays an important role and revolves around eating as many fatty, sugary foods as possible before Lent begins. A popular dish at this time is ravioli di gallina incaciati, made with chicken, pecorino and parmesan cheese, or the more classic olive all'ascolana. A sweet ravioli filled with chestnuts is also an alternative.

Quintana, is an ancient jousting tournament, and re-enacted in August. Relaunched in 1955 it has become a leading event in the area. The knights of the 6 districts of the city compete for the precious Palio among processions of flag-wavers and archers. It begins on the second Saturday of July during the feast of the Madonna della Pace.

http://www.quintanadiascoli.it/

The area celebrates its juicy olives grown locally which are considered to the best of green olives, so much so that in 2006 it officially became the 'Oliva Ascolana del Piceno' and a protected DOP product.

The sweetness of the local olive is due to the microclimate of the surrounding hills as well as natural selection as only one olive is produced from every hundred flowers. They are straw green colour and weigh 6 to 8 grams with the inner stone contributing a large 15-16% of the fruit.

Known as 'ulivae picenae' in Roman times they were highly appreciated during banquets and the Benedictine monks cultivation of them continued during the Middle Ages. The stuffed olives dates back to 1600 and was made with leftovers of a roast from a previous banquet. A favoured dish then, especially for weddings and other celebrations and the delicious treat survives today and is sold in the shop of Migliori right in the centre of Ascoli in Piazza Arringo.

Ascoli Piceno La Cerqua

Location

There are two main ways to go to Ascoli Picena from La Cerqua via the coast or inland, either way the journey takes about 2 hrs.

The coast route is a very easy run on the Superstrada (E55) which hugs the Adriatic coastline, there are tolls of €2 to €3. Exit at Porto d'Ascoli and join the SP1 for Ascoli Picena.

The Inland roads take you through some of the foothill areas of the Sibillini along some very scenic routes via Mozanno - Marsia - Amandola - Sarnano - Passo San Ginesio - Past the natural reserve of Abbadia Fiastra - Pollenza and on to Treia.