The region
Unknown to the general public for its archaeological vestiges until a short time ago, during the last years the Marches Region has become a proper archaeological area thanks the many and outstanding discoveries, as well as several promoting events which involved the whole territory and all the historical ages.
Going in search of the Picene through the Marches
The research of a cultural identity among Marches inhabitants is based on the rediscovery of the Picene, the ancient people who, before being conquered by the Romans, inhabited the Middle Western Adriatic coastal strip between the 9th and the 3rd century B.C, and shared the same language, customs and traditions, as well as artistic expressions.
The name “Picene” derives from the woodpecker sacred to Mars which, according to the legend, escorted, as far as to this region, some young Sabines who were the protagonists of a religious ritual known as “ver sacrum”.
The archaeological researches pointed out the features peculiar to the Picene culture, which not only developed on an autochthonous substratum and was influenced by cultural inputs coming from the lower Tiber valley, but also established cultural relations with other Italic and trans-Adriatic people.
Most pieces of information about the Picene people derives from numerous necropolises scattered all over the territory; the funerary sets belonging to burial tombs testify the presence of a society organized into coherent political groups, who were deeply aware of their usages and, at the same time, extremely curious and open towards foreign cultural inputs, which were often converted into an original artistic conception and noteworthy handicraft traditions.
During the triennium from 1999 to 2001, the Region of Marche and the local Archaeological Heritage Office carried out a project called “The Picene, people of Europe”, consisted of many events which culminated in the great archaeological exhibition in Frankfurt, later organized in Ascoli Piceno, Teramo and Rome.
Many towns, many museums
The Marches are known, as their name suggests, as a Region in the plural. It is a Region with many towns, bell towers and customs. In the 246 municipalities of the Region are over 360 different museums which tell the Marches history and traditions.
Among them, 59 hold archaeological material, 41 are exclusively archaeological museums and 18 house archaeological departments.
The presence of archaeological museums in the Marches territory is widespread in each corner of the region by way of the ancient populations.
Different from each other for value, history, fittings, exhibition itineraries and legal status, they hold documents useful to reconstruct our past: from the lower Palaeolithic to the Neolithic; from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, the appearance of the Picene civilization, as well as the Greek and Celtic vestiges; from the Romans until the Middle Age.
Each museum, even the smallest antique collection housed in a single hall, tell us the history of its territory, so each vase and each instrument narrate the life of those people and their vicissitudes, whilst the National Archaeological Museum of Marches in Ancona is the only one which houses vestiges from the whole region, exhibits archaeological finds and illustrates the main sites.
The Region of the Archaeological Parks
The monumental archaeological vestiges are widespread in the whole regional territory and include 7 parks and 24 archaeological sites, which form the Archaeological Network of Marches founded in 1994 through the regional law 16 which, amongst the most innovative and organic Italian laws, provides a real cooperation between the State, which has the duty of the archaeological heritage preservation, and the local institutions, which have the responsibility of managing and promoting the territory.
In Ancona’s Province there are two archaeological parks (Castelleone di Suasa and Sassoferrato) as well as in Macerata’s Province (Urbisaglia, San Severino Marche); tourists can also visit other important archaeological parks in the Province of Pesaro and Urbino (Fossombrone), in Fermo’s Province (Falerone) and in Ascoli Piceno’s Province (Cupra Marittima).
They are vestiges of roman towns, which are situated along the main roads and still conserve the ancient paving stones, remains of domus, public buildings, theatres and amphitheatres.