What to see · Ascoli Piceno

Don't miss

Ascoli Piceno: 5 places to start with

1. 1 Squares Ascoli's Piazza del Popolo A Renaissance square defined by local travertine, home to the Gothic church of San Francesco and a 16th-century loggia.
2. 2 Churches Cattedrale di Sant'Emidio The Roman forum basilica turned cathedral, and Crivelli's polyptych still in its place.
3. 3 Churches Chiesa di San Cristoforo Ascoli's church of the Good Death, with Callido's oldest surviving organ.
4. 4 Churches Chiesa di San Francesco Ascoli's Franciscan church, with musical columns beside the doorway.
5. 5 Churches Chiesa di San Pietro martire Ascoli's Dominican gothic church, grown by swallowing the noble towers.

33 places covered in Ascoli Piceno Grouped by type, most important first.

Churches and places of worship

14

Cattedrale di Sant'Emidio ★

The Roman forum basilica turned cathedral, and Crivelli's polyptych still in its place.

Chiesa di San Cristoforo ★

Ascoli's church of the Good Death, with Callido's oldest surviving organ.

Chiesa di San Francesco ★

Ascoli's Franciscan church, with musical columns beside the doorway.

Chiesa di San Pietro martire ★

Ascoli's Dominican gothic church, grown by swallowing the noble towers.

Chiesa di San Tommaso Apostolo

Ascoli's Romanesque church over the Roman amphitheatre, bowls set in its front.

Chiesa di San Vittore

Ascoli's Romanesque pieve on the urban stretch of the via Salaria.

Open the full list · 14Close the list

Chiesa della Santissima Annunziata

The former Annunziata convent on its hill in Ascoli Piceno, with two cloisters and a lunette by Cola dell'Amatrice.

Chiesa di Santa Maria Intervineas

The fortress church of Ascoli Piceno above the Tronto, with a bell tower on Roman blocks and Cola Pizzuti's monument.

Chiesa di San Giacomo Apostolo

Romanesque travertine church in the middle of piazza della Fortuna in Ascoli, with a rose window and majolica bowls.

Tempietto di Sant'Emidio Rosso

The red tempietto in Ascoli Piceno where, according to tradition, Saint Emygdius, the town's patron, was beheaded.

Chiesa di Sant'Agostino

The church of Sant'Agostino in Ascoli Piceno, with its Renaissance interior and the revered Madonna della Pace.

Chiesa di Sant'Angelo Magno

Romanesque church of Lombard origin in Ascoli Piceno, with a Gothic rose window and Baroque works by Maratti.

Chiesa di Santa Maria del Carmine

Baroque church at the end of corso Mazzini in Ascoli Piceno, with a façade by Rainaldi and steps by Giosafatti.

Tempietto di Sant'Emidio alle Grotte

Giosafatti's Baroque tempietto in Ascoli Piceno, built in front of the caves where Saint Emygdius was buried.

Castles, palaces and villas

8

Palazzo dell'Arengo

Ascoli Piceno's Baroque town hall on piazza Arringo, with caryatids, telamons and the civic art gallery.

Caffè Meletti

The Art Nouveau café on piazza del Popolo in Ascoli Piceno, since 1907, home of anisetta with a coffee bean.

Forte Malatesta

Sangallo's fortress on the Castellano in Ascoli Piceno, once a prison, now a museum of the Lombards and cinema.

Fortezza Pia

The remains of Pope Pius IV's fortress on the Colle dell'Annunziata, the highest point of Ascoli Piceno.

Torre degli Ercolani

The Romanesque family tower of Ascoli Piceno, over 34 metres high, with the Palazzetto Longobardo beside it.

Palazzo Merli

The palace on piazza Sant'Agostino in Ascoli Piceno, with its two 25-metre medieval twin towers.

Open the full list · 8Close the list

Palazzo Bonaparte

The Renaissance palace of Ascoli Piceno with unique friezes of griffins, sirens and dolphins on its façade.

Porta Gemina

The two-arched Roman gate of Ascoli Piceno, through which the via Salaria entered the town.

Squares, fountains and monuments

6

Ascoli's Piazza del Popolo ★

A Renaissance square defined by local travertine, home to the Gothic church of San Francesco and a 16th-century loggia.

Ponte di Cecco

The oldest Roman bridge in Ascoli Piceno, over the Castellano, reassembled stone by stone after the war.

Ponte Romano di Solestà

The single-arch Augustan bridge over the Tronto in Ascoli Piceno, which can also be visited inside its piers.

Statua del Cristo Redentore

The travertine statue of Christ the Redeemer on the Sacro Cuore hill, a wartime vow of the people of Ascoli.

Piazza Ventidio Basso

The medieval market square of Ascoli Piceno, with Romanesque churches, towers and the trade rules stone of 1613.

Ponte Maggiore

The fourteenth-century bridge over the Castellano in Ascoli Piceno, with the Carrara arms, rebuilt after the war.

Museums, theatres and collections

4

Teatro romano di Ascoli Piceno

Ascoli's Roman theatre, taken apart to make houses and lime.

Museo archeologico nazionale di Ascoli Piceno

Ascoli Piceno's archaeological museum on piazza Arringo, with the Piceni, the Romans and a portrait of Trajan.

Teatro Ventidio Basso

Ascoli Piceno's Italian-style theatre, a UNESCO site, with 842 seats, gilded stucco and a ceiling of Muses.

Cartiera papale

The popes' paper mill on the Castellano stream in Ascoli Piceno, now a museum of paper and grain.

Parks and gardens

1

Parco dell'Annunziata

The park on Ascoli Piceno's highest hill, between the Fortezza Pia, the Roman caves and the Annunziata cloister.