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Ascoli Piceno: Asculum Romana, the roman age
Ascoli Piceno (Asculum) entered in contact
with Rome mainly for reason of the trade that took place along that which
would successively become the Consular Salarian Road as far back as the
Alliance Treaty between Rome and the Piceno people that had been stipulated
in the year 299 BC.
This exceptionally important road, which linked the
Tyrrhenian coast to that of the Adriatic, was of fundamental strategic and
military importance for the Romans. Following the victory of the Romans (89
BC) and the capitulation of the city, Ascoli rose once again to new life
under the Imperior rule of Augustus and the city was enriched with villas,
temples, theatres, spas, streets. bridges and fortifications.
Gateways and Fortifications
Gemina Gateway, with wall ruins in opus reticulatum, was discovered only in
1824 with the dismantling of the Romanesque church of S. Leonardo, made
necessary for viability purposes at the city limits. |
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Theatres
The Roman Theatre was brought to the light between 1932 and 1959, and it is
still today object of excavation. The remains of the Roman amphitheatre,
however, are underneath today's S. Tommaso Square.
In the course of history
the structures were used as a, sort of quarry for construction materials for
the city walls and for private dwellings as well as for the production of
lime.
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Publio Ventidio Basso
Ventidio Basso was an important Ascolan commander of the 1st century AD.
Brought to Rome as a prisoner while still a youth during the "Social War",
he began his career in with a humble task, as a supplier of mules of
transportation for the soldiers.
This activity permitted him however to
enter into the military ambient and even to establish a friendship with
Julius Caesar.
He soon became a valiant general, then Senator, Judge of the Plebians and Prefect. It was finally as Consul in the year 39 AD that
Ventidio defeated the Partisans and the victory was such that the following
year his triumph was celebrated in Rome.
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Temples
There remain in the city two pagan temples, successively transformed into
the churches of S. Gregorio Magno and S. Venanzio. The former was a temple
presumably dedicated to Isis and conserves two Corinthian columns in its
façade (they were part of the entranceway portico) and the walls of the
cells in opus reticulatum.In the area surrounding the modem courthouse (Tribunale)
some Roman domus were rediscovered. The Archaeological Museum houses several of their beautiful mosaic
pavements. The most important one has an ingenious figure of a double mask.
Bridges
One may admire still today several bridges constructed by the Romans, with
their proverbial ability, that span the Tronto River and its branches.
Courtesy of the
Comune Ascoli Piceno
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(c) 1997-2008 E. Massetti
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