Ascoli Piceno

**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&nbsp;km2).

Ascoli Piceno borders with the following *comuni*ː 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  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**

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  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

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  bar:1971 at: 55217 fontsize:S text: 55,217 shift:(-18,5)
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  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 1998
* 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

## References
## Other websites
*Ascoli Piceno official website