Title: Ascoli Piceno Content: Ascoli Piceno  is a comune and city in the Marche region, in central Italy. Ascoli Piceno is the capital of the province of the same name. The central historical part of the city is built in marble called travertino, a grey-hued stone extracted from the surrounding mountains. Its central Renaissance square, Piazza del Popolo ("Square of the People") is considered one of the most beautiful in Italy. ==Geography== The town is in the valley of the Tronto river, at the confluence of this river and the small river Castellano and is surrounded on three sides by mountains. Two national parks border the town, one on the northwestern side (Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini) and the other on the south (Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga). The comune of Ascoli Piceno has an area of and its altitude is . It has a small exclave (Piana della Forcella, 0,5 km2). Ascoli Piceno borders with the following comuniː to the north, Venarotta, Rotella, Castel di Lama and Castorano; to the east, Castignano, Appignano del Tronto and Colli del Tronto; to the south, Folignano, Maltignano and the comuni of the province of Teramo (Abruzzo) of Ancarano, Sant'Egidio alla Vibrata, Civitella del Tronto and Valle Castellana; and to west with Acquasanta Terme, Roccafluvione and Venarotta. Some mountains close to comune are Monte Ascensione, Montagna dei Fiori and Monte Vettore. ===Frazioni=== The following frazioni (hamlets) are part of Ascoli Picenoː Bivio Giustimana, Campolungo, Caprignano, Carpineto, Casalena, Casamurana, Case Schiavi, Castel Trosino, Cavignano, Cervara, Colle, Colle San Marco, Colloto, Colonna, Colonnata, Coperso, Faiano, Fonte di Campo, Funti, Giustimana, Il Palazzo, Lago, Lisciano, Lisciano di Colloto, Montadamo, Monte di Rosara, Morignano, Mozzano, Oleificio Panichi, Palombare, Pedana, Piagge, Pianaccerro, Polesio, Ponte Pedana, Porchiano, Rosara, San Gaetano, San Pietro, Santa Maria a Corte, Talvacchia, Taverna di mezzo, Trivigliano- Villa Pagani, Tozzano, Tronzano, Valle Cupa, Valle Fiorana, Valle Senzana, Valli, Vena piccola, Venagrande, Villa Sant'Antonio. ==History== Ascoli was founded by an Italic population (Piceni) several centuries before the building by Rome of the important Via Salaria, the salt road that connected Latium with the salt production areas on the Adriatic coast. In 268 BC it became a civitas foederata, a "federated" city with nominal independence from Rome. In 91 BC, together with other cities in central Italy, it revolted against Rome, but in 89 BC was reconquered and destroyed by Pompeius Strabo. Its inhabitants got Roman citizenship, following the developments and the eventual fall of the Roman Empire. ==Population== There are 49,203 persons living in the comune in 2017, for a population density of inhabitants/km². Evolution of the population Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.8) ImageSize = width:500 height:373 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:30 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:60000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:10000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:5000 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= bar:1961 text:1961 bar:1971 text:1971 bar:1981 text:1981 bar:1991 text:1991 bar:2001 text:2001 bar:2011 text:2011 bar:2017 text:2017 PlotData= color:barra width:30 align:left bar:1961 from:0 till: 50114 bar:1971 from:0 till: 55217 bar:1981 from:0 till: 54298 bar:1991 from:0 till: 53591 bar:2001 from:0 till: 51375 bar:2011 from:0 till: 49958 bar:2017 from:0 till: 49203 PlotData= bar:1961 at: 50114 fontsize:S text: 50,114 shift:(-13,5) bar:1971 at: 55217 fontsize:S text: 55,217 shift:(-18,5) bar:1981 at: 54298 fontsize:S text: 54,298 shift:(-18,5) bar:1991 at: 53591 fontsize:S text: 53,591 shift:(-18,5) bar:2001 at: 51375 fontsize:S text: 51,375 shift:(-18,5) bar:2011 at: 49958 fontsize:S text: 49,958 shift:(-18,5) bar:2017 at: 49203 fontsize:S text: 49,203 shift:(-18,5) The people from this comune are known, in Italian, as ascolani. ==Twinned towns== Ascoli Piceno is twinned with: * Trier, Germany, since 1958 * Massy, France, since 1997 * Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, since 1998Banská Bystrica, Sister cities - Twin towns * Chattanooga, United States, since 2006 * Bayonne, France, since 2008 * Norcia, Italy, since 2010 * Amatrice, Italy, since 2010 * Veles, Republic of Macedonia, since 2011 * Civitella del Tronto, Italy ==Gallery== 452AscoliPPzaDelPopolo.JPG|Piazza del Popolo 457AscoliPPalazzoDelPopolo.JPG|Palazzo dei Capitani del Popolo Fontana di Piazza Arringo IMG 0041.JPG|Piazza Arringo fountain 447AscoliPPzaArringo.JPG|Piazza Arringo