ASCOLI PICENO, DIOCESE OF. - An immediately subject episcopal see of the Marches, from its earliest origins, to the Apostolic See. Already mentioned by Julius Caesar under the name of Asculum Picenum, the city of Ascoli Piceno is situated on a cuneiform hill with a flattened summit, at the confluence of the Tronto and Castellano rivers, about 25 km from the Adriatic. It is the provincial capital (2,089 sq km) and seat of a diocese whose boundaries are delimited to the east by the diocese of Ripatransone, to the north by that of Montalto, to the west by Rieti and Norcia, and to the south by Teramo. The ecclesiastical circumscription comprises 170 parishes, 174 diocesan priests, and 43 regular clergy; a population of 142,000 inhabitants, almost all Catholic.
A respectable though late tradition, accepted by all local historians, assigns to St Emidius the preaching of the Christian faith in Ascoli Piceno and the origin of the episcopal Church in the 4th century. While acknowledging the existence at that time of a Christian community, it does not, however, seem admissible that all that concerns the apostolate and episcopate of the saint in the city derives from a fabulous narrative, probably of the 11th century (BHL, 2535).
In the 5th century, the Ascolan bishop Lucentius, the first known to us from documents, was sent as a legate of Pope Leo I to the Council of Chalcedon (451; Jaffé-Wattenbach, 470). During the episcopate of Pietro Camaiani, the diocese ceded part of its territory to the new diocese of Ripatransone (1571), and shortly thereafter, under the episcopate of Cardinal Girolamo Berneri, to that of Montalto (1586). The city and territory belonged to the March of Ancona, in which Ascoli Piceno ranked fourth among the most important provincial capitals. From 1502 it was constantly under the Papal States, and from 1824 it was the seat of a delegation until the annexation of 1860.
Abbeys. - Among the numerous abbeys, St Sabinus was notable for its antiquity (6th century). The female monastery of St Angelo (St Angelo Magno) was renowned for its history and art, though after the various transformations it underwent until its conversion into a civil and military hospital in 1866, only the Romanesque church (13th century) and abundant archival material remain (the *Libro Maggiore di S. Angelo Magno*, a manuscript from 1754 in the municipal library).
Monuments. - Ascoli Piceno preserves various monumental churches built between the 13th and 15th centuries, including St Victor, where characteristic mural paintings by local artists can still be admired, and St Francis, the finest Gothic monument in the city. The Cathedral, dedicated to St Emidius, despite its cold and expressionless 16th-century façade, contains significant architectural elements from earlier periods.
Museums and Archives. - In the Cathedral Treasury, some sacred relics are preserved. Examples of Christian art are numerous in the rich Civic Picture Gallery, which houses the famous *pavilion* of Nicholas IV, an English-made textile from the 13th century donated by the Pope to his native city. There is a chapter archive and a curia archive, with documents not earlier than the 15th century. - See Pl. X.