Belmonte Piceno | Accommodation details

Historical Notes
Belmonte Piceno is situated on a ridge which has the roll of watershed between the valleys of the Tenna and of the Ete Vivo Rivers.  Pre-history and proto-history have their testimony in the three hundred tombs identified as being of Picenum Age, gifted with finds of extraordinary quantity and quality. The belmontese hill of the Picenum Leaders was a cross-road of traffic with a high level of prosperity when it was occupied by the Romans; in 269 they imposed themselves here by force.  From the first years of the V century there was devastation here brought about by the germanic populations.  It became part of the Farfense dominium as is testified in a XI century register.  It seems the name comes from the colonies immigrated from Belmonte Sabino.  From 1263 the belmontesi made written agreements with the Fermana authority in order to be exempt from tax, then five years later they obtained perpetual citizenship.   In the XIV century Belmonte located itself as a prominent centre for Fermano commerce by protecting the entire urban centre with external walls, meanwhile rural houses and small country churches were spreading throughout the territory.  During the centuries of peace the Castle registered a considerable expansion and the rural dwellings grew and were renewed.

Monuments and Churches
- Church of S. Salvatore (XII century), rebuilt in the XVIII century, it has outstanding elements like the Pietà, a XV century wooden sculpture, the  XVII century silver stational cross and a reliquary of the Holy Cross.
- Quadrangular Tower and remains of XV century fortified city walls
- Romanic Church of S. Maria in Muris (S. Simone and Giuda).
On the Roman ruins between 936 and 962 the Benedictine monarchs built a small rural church, in pure lombard style, with a watch tower (rewalled in the XVI century) and with an exceptional pre-Romanic crypto-portico at the entrance under the tower.  There are Roman testimonials of a tombstone and a white marble piece, set into the façade, onto which a lion has been sculptured.
- Church of the Madonna of the Rosary was built by the confraternity of the Holy Rosary in the years around 1586, renewed later during the first half of the XVIII century.  The altar-piece of the main altar is attributed to Fermano Filippo Ricci for the style and the similarity with other paintings of the Virgin of the Rosary with Child and Saints Domenico of Guzman and Catherine of Siena, saints bound to the Dominican order, a widespread belief after the battle of Lepanto in 1571.

Events in town:
- Polenta in Piazza – on Fat Thursday
- Nutella feast – May 1st.
- Holy Cross celebration – May 1st - 2nd -3rd
- Pizza and Beer festival- Last weeks of August
- Frog festival – First week in September
- Chestnut festival – First week in October
- Christmas market “Belmonte opens its doors to Christmas” - First Saturday and Sunday in December
- During the winter time the local theatre host a theather season known as BAT (Belmonte loves theatre). In the years the theatre has become a reference point the citizens of Belmonte.

Tourist informations can be requested at the Comune di Belmonte Piceno:
E-mail: info@comunebelmontepiceno.it
Pec: comune.belmontepiceno@pec.it
Tel.: 0734 77110 - Fax: 0734 771291
Website: www.comunebelmontepiceno.it
Municipal recreational vehicle park:
Largo Silvestrini Baglioni. GPS N43°05'27'' E 13°32'12''
Distance from the city centre: 100 mt.
Facilities: street lighting, dump station.