Spinetoli

Tradition says that in the decisive battle against the Romans, in 268 BC, the Piceni were frightened to death by an earthquake: they withdrew, and the Roman victory was made easier. For this reason, tradition says again, precisely where Spinetoli would later be born the consul Sempronius Sophus had a votive temple built to Tellus, the goddess of the earth — that is, to the one who had won the battle in his place. The remarkable thing is that this spot has never been left empty: the church of Santa Maria Assunta, consecrated in 1367, was probably built on the remains of an older church, from before the year one thousand and dedicated to the Holy Trinity, which in its turn stood on the remains of the Roman temple of the goddess Earth.

The name of the town, instead, comes from thorns: the hill was called Spinetola, perhaps for the quantity of thorn roses that flowered there; some also connect it to an Etruscan word, the same as the city of Spina at the mouths of the Po, where it meant port or river mouth. The castle belonged to the monks of Farfa, then to the bishop of Ascoli, and its position above the Tronto proved decisive in stopping Robert Guiscard, who had already taken Fermo and Spoleto but could not get past the castles of the Tronto. In 1538 Spinetoli was sacked by the militia of Paul III, but the captain of the papal troops fell into an ambush, and in retaliation the pope took the castle away from Ascoli: it came back a few years later. Of the sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie it is told that around 1300 an unknown painter painted the image on a piece of tufa; the fresco was detached from the stone and carried onto the high altar in 1953. And here they make lace, a craft that has travelled far from the town.