Ascoli Piceno: what to see in the living room of Italy

The beauty of a city must be sought in the details, in how each building, palace, square, and facade integrates perfectly and creates a whole with a sensational atmosphere. Ascoli Piceno is a town in the heart of the Marches called the Salotto d’Italia, where you can breathe serenity and well-being in every corner. It is called so precisely because in a certain sense, visiting Ascoli Piceno means feeling at home.

Here you will be greeted by the typical warmth of the Marche and by a city that is a small pearl of the Italian Renaissance of which clues are scattered everywhere. Considered one of the most monumental in Italy, Ascoli Piceno is full of suggestive towers and bell towers that emanate a warm and enveloping color.

What to visit in Ascoli Piceno

Ascoli Piceno represented a dynamic and lively center of the Medieval and Renaissance periods of Italy which left an enormous legacy in this area. The entire city is built on travertine, a marble that is found in abundance in the surrounding area and which helps to create a truly unique atmosphere.

Ascoli Piceno is also known as the city of a hundred towers because of the numerous towers within the city limits: these medieval towers were built to give the city a more vertical aspect and to give a certain status to the houses of the nobles and lords. The attractions that Ascoli Piceno has to offer are numerous and all of them are synonymous with refined art and architecture and well-being.

The center of Ascoli Piceno is undoubtedly Piazza del Popolo, better known as Salotto d'Italia. It is a rectangular square where the harmony of the facades of the buildings and the church, surrounded by porticoes, prevails. Here you can find the Palazzo dei Capitani del Popolo, the walls of the Church of San Francesco, and you can have a coffee at the historic Restaurant Meletti: a completely Liberty-style bar inaugurated in 1907 and still perfectly preserved.

The town of Ascoli Piceno is surrounded by the Tronto River and its tributary. Some scenic and suggestive points are represented by the numerous bridges that cross the waterways. The oldest and most famous, the Cecco Bridge, rises a short distance from the Malatesta Fortress, now home to a museum.

Finally, in this beautiful city, it is possible to walk through one of the oldest streets, Rua Delle Stelle, which allows you to discover corners completely out of time, walking along the city walls.