Travel Diary: Ascoli Piceno

I went to the beautiful Ascoli Piceno some weeks ago, it's a well known city in a nearby region but I hadn't the chance to visit it before and I totally regret it 'cause it's amazing! Unfortunately I arrived there quite late in the afternoon so I wasn't able to visit museums and the great Forte Malatesta but I hope to come there again asap!

Its historic center, the largest of the Marche, is built almost entirely in travertine and is among the most admired of the region and Central Italy, by virtue of its artistic and architectural wealth. It preserves several noble and bell towers and for this it is called the City of a hundred towers. The Renaissance Piazza del Popolo is considered one of the most beautiful squares in Italy. It is the only city in the Marche to have two historic theaters, Ventidio Basso and Filarmonici.

Cattedrale di Sant'Emidio

The city's Duomo, dedicated to the patron saint, stands on the site of a Roman public building and is the result of many constructive events ranging substantially from the eleventh century to the sixteenth century. It shows on Piazza Arringo with the facade of Cola dell'Amatrice and houses inside the crypt of Sant'Emidio and a valuable polyptych by Carlo Crivelli. Unfortunately the ceiling was totally covered by a white sheet, 'cause the region had many earthquakes in the past few years. The cathedral is medium size and it hasn't many amazing thing to look at, but the crypt is really gorgeous, one of the coolest one I ever seen with the amazing warm colored colomuns all around.

In the crypt you can see the beautiful "Il Battesimo di Polisia" by Lazzaro Giosafatti, the work was realized between 1728 and 1730, commissioned by the archdeacon Luigi Lenti. This sculpture is considered the masterpiece of the author. Many praise the beauty of the concept, flawless execution and balance. The figures are represented with larger dimensions of the natural and carved in a single block of white Carrara marble. It represents the most significant moment in the history and legend that binds these two saints.

Polisia was the young daughter of the proconsul of Ascoli Polimio, these believed to recognize in the bishop Emidio the reincarnation of the god Aesculapius, so he asked him to dedicate sacrifices to the gods, promising him marriage with his daughter.

Sant'Emidio, on the other hand, managed to convert the young Polisia to Christianity and baptized it in the waters of the Tronto river. Following this Polimio ordered the arrest of the daughter and the beheading of the saint.

I visited two more churches this day but they were celebrating the Mass so no pics inside them, good thing is they were kinda simple so I'm pretty sure I didn't loose the chance to shoot many gorgeous pics. I was also really tired that day due to my health and stress problems so the outside pics where taken with my phone instead of my camera, I hope you'll enjoy them anyway!

Bonus food pic! Olive ascolane are the typical dish there, now widespread throughout the Italian territory, but also outside the national borders! The olives all'ascolana owe their name to the city of Ascoli Piceno and they are made of green olives in brine, stuffed inside by a tender meat-based mixture. They usually prepare them with a bit of parmesan too (I can't eat that sadly) but I found they created a vegan version so I was finally enjoying them after ages, for my italian friends I can swear they were pretty good!