Ponte di Solestà and Roman Ascoli Piceno

Ascoli Piceno, the elegant travertine city of southern Marche, was the chief town of the ancient Piceni and later the Roman Asculum, and it preserves one of the finest groups of Roman remains in the region. Foremost among them is the Ponte di Solestà, a single-arched stone bridge thrown across the river Tronto in the Augustan age, around 25 BC, to carry the Via Salaria into the city. With a span of roughly twenty-five metres and a height of about twenty-five metres above the river, it is among the largest surviving Roman bridges in Italy, its great travertine arch still carrying foot traffic after two thousand years and even concealing an internal passage within its structure. Close by stands the Porta Gemina, the twin-arched Roman gate of the first century BC that marked the western entrance to the city along the Salaria, its name reflecting the two arches that once channelled traffic in and out. On the northern edge of the historic centre lie the remains of the Roman theatre, dating to the first centuries BC and AD, partly preserved among later buildings. Together these monuments trace the outline of Asculum, a prosperous municipium whose grid still underlies the medieval and Renaissance streets, all built in the pale local travertine that gives Ascoli its luminous character. The Piceni and Roman heritage of the city is further illuminated by the National Archaeological Museum on Piazza Arringo. Freely accessible in the open air, the Ponte di Solestà and its companions let visitors walk directly on the engineering of ancient Rome while exploring one of central Italy's most harmonious historic towns.