Following the museums and collections itinerary, Piceno offers many possible adventures, each with a story to tell, a place and a people to describe, a form of creativity and archetypal typicity, which together make up the colourful identity of Piceno.
Starting from the coast, the town of Cupra Marittima takes the visitor back in time to feel the atmosphere of an ancient Roman town, with tours of the Ninfeo archaeological park and the relative local archaeological museum.
Across the hills and mountains it is possible to discover the land of Sixtus V, the pope born in Grottammare and raised in Montalto Marche, his “dearest homeland”, to which he granted gifts and privileges like the precious reliquary – a gold casket enamelled and encrusted with a riot of gems including 97 sapphires, rubies and pearls – preserved in Montalto’s Museo Sistino. Pope Sixtus IV forged an identity still visible in an area where art and landscape are in perfect symbiosis. This glorious past is well documented by the Musei Sistini del Piceno network of museums in Ripatransone, Montalto Marche, Castignano, Rotella, Force, Comunanza and Montemonaco, with a rich legacy of paintings, frescoes, jewellery, precious fabrics and vibrant sculptures (info for opening times: 347.380.44.44 or www.museisistini.it).
A journey across Piceno of yesterday and today, on the other hand, comes in the form of the museums of Monterubbiano, Montefiore dell’Aso, Offida, and Ripatransone which make up a local network (for information on Musei Piceni opening hours see www.museipiceni.it). These are respected locations (two Franciscan convents and two mansions) that exhibit rich, extremely diverse collections depicting Piceno, its history and its people from every point of view.
This tour must start from the floor model in Monterubbiano archaeological museum, in the San Francesco cultural centre, which reproduces the valley of the River Aso. Not to be missed, Offida’s museum of bobbin lace, Ripatransone’s “L. Mercantini” historical museum of the Risorgimento, and a polyptych painted by Carlo Crivelli now in the San Francesco museum of Montefiore dell’Aso.
The history of past generations, their crafts and daily life, are featured in Offida’s Museo delle Tradizioni Popolari which exhibits ancient work tools; in Montefiore dell’Aso’s Museo della Civiltà Contadina which has reproduced the interiors of a rural home; Ripatransone’s Museo della Civiltà Contadina e Artigiana and Museo del vasaio e del fischietto, as well as in the Museo del Rame in Force with its display of tools and artefacts that bring to life the ancient art of copper forging.
The Piceno mountain area offers a chance to discover the mysteries and magic legends linked to the legends of the Sibyl, well documented in Montemonaco’s Museo della Grotta della Sibilla. The museum tells of an ancient legend also using an interactive exhibition to reproduce the path towards the mysterious Cave of the Sibyl.
Finally the Aso River Valley offers the interesting Ecomuseo della Valle dell’Aso illustrating a number of identities: 11 municipalities that overlook the valley and 21 territorial interpretation centres that tell stories of people, customs, and typical products linked to tradition. A journey for the mind and the palate!
