City
Asclopiceno
Ascoli Piceno
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Asclopiceno stands for Asculum of the Picenes, the people of this stretch of central Italy, and the town survives as Ascoli Piceno in the valley of the Tronto, on the Via Salaria. The Roman writer Pliny called it the most distinguished town of Picenum. In 90 BC Roman magistrates were murdered in its theatre, the signal for the Social War, the revolt of Rome's Italian allies. The town was later besieged and stormed, and sling bullets from that siege, some bearing their commanders' names, are still found nearby. On the map the road line towards Urbe Salvia is missing, although the distance figure is there.