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Piazza del Popolo, Ascoli Piceno

The Marche's most beautiful piazza is an exquisite marriage of Medieval and Renaissance architecture. It's two principal buildings, the Palazzo dei Capitani del Popolo and the Church of San Francesco, both date from the 13th Century but it was the creation of a series of porticoes around the remaining two and a half sides of the piazza at the turn of the 16th Century which transformed it into one of the most homely squares in the whole of Italy.

The low porticoed buildings, built between 1509 and 1511, were designed to provide workshops around the piazza with single storey living accommodation above and were topped by mock-medieval swallow-tailed crenellations. The piazza was also paved in shiny travertine stone to complete its harmonious elegance.

Soaring above the northern end of the piazza is the soberly Gothic church of San Francesco. Its construction was begun in 1258 by a brotherhood of Franciscan monks formed after the saint's visit to the city in 1215. The 14th century portal overlooking the square is topped by a monument to Pope Julius II (1506).

The Palazzo dei Capitano del Popolo, on the west side of the piazza, was built in the early part of the 13th Century on the foundations of buildings dating back to the Roman period, probably the houses of noble families. The facade was modified over the next two centuries and the entrance portal added in 1549. This was the headquarters of the local commune from 1400 until 1532, when the city became part of the Papal States and ruled over by a papal governor.

Tucked away beneath the portico to the left of the Palazzo dei Capitani is Caffé Meletti. Its Liberty style interior remains unchanged since the café was opened in 1906.