Piceno's culture

The Piceni people lived in the region since the 8th century. They were mysterious people of whom we knew very little until a few years ago since they built no cities and left very rare writings, which are still undeciphered to date. Theirs was the most important and characteristic civilisation of the region, which left us numerous burial-grounds and necropolis where we discovered an enormous quantity of ornaments and arms of these warrior people.

Marvellous objects in bronze, iron, clay, bone, ivory, gold and silver, all found in the excavations of the last few decades. The arms changed also in relation to the people they fought against. In fact, in the last phase of their civilisation, and before their definite submission to Rome, the Piceni's swords were of Celtic type. The Celtic presence in the region is documented by important finds, like the Tomba del Guerriero (Warrior's tomb), most certainly a Celtic tribal-chief found near Fabriano and dating back to the 4th century B.C.

The Piceno's territory, when fully submitted to the Romans, became the 5th of 11 regions in which Augustus divided Italy. The Marche region enriched itself with important Roman monuments, evidence of which are found in Ostra and Helvia Recina's ruins, in Urbisaglia and Falerone, in Suasa and Ancona's amphitheatres, in the Ascolani and Metauro's bridges, in the Augustus' Arch in Fano and in Traiano's in Ancona. The unity of the 5th region lasted until the first barbaric invasions, and then the region was donated to The Church, whose right was enforced for 11 centuries and dominated Marche's history. During that time Marche's valleys and villages were dotted with monasteries, convents and churches, which we still can admire to date. But the most flourishing time in Marche's history is the Renaissance, which reached its climax in Urbino, where the Duke Federico II di Montefeltro called all the geniuses and most talented artists of the time.