Ascoli Piceno is a city to be experienced, strolling through its medieval heart in which the most beautiful Renaissance squares in the Marche open up and in the streets that still respect the layout of ancient Roman streets. History, in this part of the Marches is mainly about the Middle Ages, and Ascoli Piceno, preserves traces of them in the beautiful architecture. The ancient capital of the Piceni, conquered by the Romans with the entire region in 286 B.C., the city was long dominated by the barbarians, the Franks, Frederick II and Francesco Sforza, who established a cruel dictatorship until 1482. It is said that Alaric, King of the Visigoths, fascinated by its beauty and aware of its strategic importance, did not want to raze it to the ground, as he did other cities. Together with Fermo it was until 1860 the capital of the Marche region. The historic center of Ascoli Piceno is dense with civil and religious buildings from the medieval age. Magnificent Piazza del Popolo overlooked by some of the most important places including the Palazzo dei Capitani del Popolo (13th cent.), the historic Caffè Meletti, the church of San Francesco (13th-16th cent.) and the Loggia dei Mercanti. Also worth seeing are Piazza Arringo, the oldest square in Ascoli, where the baptistery of San Giovanni, the cathedral of Sant'Emidio - the city's cathedral, dedicated to the patron saint - the Bishop's Palace and the Arengo Palace, home to the civic art gallery. Finally, the churches of Saints Vincent and Anastasius (11th-14th centuries), with its facade divided into panels, and that of Sant'Emidio alle Grotte (18th century) are characteristic.
