What is Ascoli Piceno known for?

The entire centro storico is built from local travertine, polished pale under rain and lit gold at sunset, an inheritance from Roman quarrying. Costumed joust between the six sestieri, run twice a year on the first Sunday of July and the first Sunday of August. Stuffed and fried green olive of the Ascolana tenera cultivar, the city's culinary signature, made to a DOP protocol since 2005.

Where is Ascoli Piceno?

Ascoli Piceno is a comune in the province of Ascoli Piceno, Marche region of Italy, about 93 kilometers from Pescara.

Marche · Ascoli Piceno

Ascoli Piceno

The travertine citywhere the Tronto meets the Castellano, capital of the Piceni and host of the Quintana joust.

93 km / 58 mi

Nearest hub (Pescara)

45,571

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Ascoli Piceno sitsat the confluence of the Tronto and the Castellano, the historic capital of the Piceni who held this part of the Marche before Rome. The town is built almost entirely from local travertine, which gives the centro storico its luminous pale surface and its mirror behavior under rain: Piazza del Popolo, paved in polished travertine slabs, is one of the most photographed squares in Italy. In 91 BC the Ascolani killed the Roman delegation in their forum and triggered the Social War; the city was razed and rebuilt by Rome and the present grid still follows the Roman layout. The Quintana, run in costume in July and August, is a joust between the six sestieri, the city districts, the knight on horseback charging an effigy of an Arab warrior. Anisetta Meletti, the local aniseed liqueur invented in 1907, is poured at the Caffè Meletti on the piazza.

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Gallery

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Known for

Piazza del Popolo
Paved in polished travertine slabs and lined by Renaissance porticoes, the Palazzo dei Capitani and the Loggia dei Mercanti, one of the most photographed squares in Italy.
Chiesa di San Francesco
Gothic basilica begun in the thirteenth century, three travertine portals, two bell-towers, the largest Marchigiana example of the Franciscan order's architecture.
Cattedrale di Sant'Emidio
Cathedral on Piazza Arringo, with a fifth-century crypt holding the relics of Sant'Emidio, patron saint invoked against earthquakes.
Quintana
Costumed joust held in July and August, the six sestieri compete in archery and a charge against an Arab effigy, observed across the medieval streets.
Pinacoteca Civica
Civic gallery in the Palazzo dell'Arengo, with works by Carlo Crivelli, Tiziano, Pietro Alemanno and Cola dell'Amatrice.
Le Cento Torri
The hundred towers, mostly absorbed into later buildings, that gave Ascoli its medieval skyline; a dozen still stand and several can be climbed.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the best months for Ascoli Piceno. The travertine is dry, the surrounding olive groves turn through the Ascolana tenera harvest from October, and the Tronto and Castellano walks along the city's south edge are open every day. July and August touch the mid-thirties; the centro storico empties between three and six in the afternoon but the Quintana weekends fill it again. November through March is quiet and cooler, with low fog rising from the river confluence on still mornings and the cathedral and Caffè Meletti open through winter. The Carnevale of Ascoli, one of the oldest in central Italy, runs through February.