MONTALTO, DIOCESE OF. – A city and diocese in the province of Ascoli Piceno. It has 32,351 inhabitants, almost all Catholic, distributed across 34 parishes served by 58 diocesan priests and 10 regular clergy; it has a seminary, 2 male religious communities, and 12 female religious communities (1940).
The diocese was erected by Sixtus V with the bull *Super universas* of 14 November 1586, carved out of the dioceses of Fermo and Ascoli. The first bishop was P. Emilio Giovanni (24 November 1586–1605), and among his successors were noted: P. Orsini (1608–40), who convened the first provincial council; G. Cadebò, who established the seminary in 1653 in the convent of Sant’Agostino; A. Paganelli (1673–1710), distinguished for his activity in synods and pastoral visitations; F. A. Marcucci of Ascoli (1770–98), who, having been appointed vice-secretary in Rome (1774–85), administered the diocese through vicars (A. Rossi-Brunori, *La vita e le istituzioni di mons. Marcucci*, Ascoli Piceno 1917) and accompanied Pope Pius VI on his journey to Vienna in 1782. Finally, F. Saverio Castiglioni of Cingoli (1800–16): created bishop of M. by Pius VII, he was exiled by the French occupying government in 1808 and transferred to Pavia, Mantua, and Milan; he returned to his diocese in 1814. Created cardinal in the consistory of 8 March 1816 and transferred to Cesena, his native city, he became pope under the name Pius VIII (1829–30).
Since 1589 the diocese of M. has been a suffragan of Fermo. The history of M., an ancient castle belonging to the Benedictines
Montalto, diocese of – Reliquary donated to M. by Sixtus V. The *Pietà* is the work of a Franco-Flemish master of the 15th century – Montalto, municipality.