Museo Diocesano di Ascoli Piceno

The Diocesan Museum of Ascoli Piceno occupies rooms in the Episcopal Palace beside the cathedral. Its collections range from the eighth century to the present and include sacred paintings, silver, textiles, sculpture and works removed from churches for preservation.

Why it matters

The museum preserves objects from across the diocese within the historical setting of the Episcopal Palace. Its collection includes the silver statue of Sant'Emidio by Pietro Vannini, whose copy is displayed in the cathedral, alongside works by Carlo Crivelli, Andrea Pozzo and Baciccio. The palace itself combines a fifteenth-century core, an eighteenth-century renovation and the rusticated Renaissance block of Palazzo Roverella.

What to notice

The Sala del Crivelli contains the Madonna di Poggio di Bretta. In the Sala del Tesoro are a silver Madonna di Loreto made in 1618 by Curzio Compagni and the statuette of Sant'Emidio by Vannini. The Sala Emidiana displays textiles associated with the saint's relics. The Sala del Fogolino preserves a fresco cycle of the Stories of Moses begun in 1547. Other rooms bring together works by Cola dell'Amatrice, Domenico and Giovanni Peruzzini, Giovan Angelo Canini, Girolamo Marchi, Pozzo and Baciccio. The Salone degli Stemmi has a coffered ceiling commissioned around 1474 by Bishop Prospero Caffarelli.

Context and history

The museum's two sections cover works from the eighth to sixteenth centuries and from the post-Tridentine era onward. The collection includes objects moved from churches for security, conservation or changes in liturgical use, retaining their links to the parishes and treasuries from which they came. Fresco fragments and a restoration area within the museum reflect its conservation work. The Palazzo Roverella's rusticated façade has a carved corner mask that also serves as a smoke vent.