Church of Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio
Without a doubt, this is the best expression of sacred architecture in Ascoli. It is situated in Piazza Ventidio Basso. With ample evidence, it displays its antiquity and enormous archeological importance as an example of Christian art. Under the presbytery there is a crypt of the fourth-fifth century A. D., once devoted to San Silvestro pope. Inside there's a small well, vhere according to an old legend a miraculous water sprang from. It cured lots of deseases lepresy amongst. Perhaps this purifying water was exactly the reason for the church's birth and its splendour.
The form and actual size are the result of successive changes, restorations and additions. The apse, the tower and the elevation above the central nave are of the eighth-ninth centuries. The archivolt with the inscription and statuettes of Madonna e i Santi go back to 1036. The advancement of the façade and the widening of the right aisle with the inclusion of the bell tower date back to 1389. The church is the embodiment of the history of art, an archtectural jewel, somewhat unique and one of the most important Romanesque monuments in the Marches. The very original rectangular façade divided into three parts is again separated into a grid formed by 64 panels with smart frames, which once were affrescoed. The smooth travertine has been no able to maintain, with the passing of time, the outlines of the paintings that certainly must have charmed the eyes with their drammatic stories and their poetry. In the middle of the façade is the door with a profusion of ornaments that don't take away from the simple elegance of its form. Inside the lunettes there are three marble figures sculptured in full relief: in the middleVergine col Bambino, on the sides Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio. Even though roughly worked, the full refief figures have a life and a beauty of their own. The proportions and the harmony of their lines make them one of the most successful works of art of the eleventh century. On the archivolt, in semi-Gothic characters, a Latin inscription alludes to works of extension, only hust finished: Novum Hoc Opus Fcm Fuit Pot Virginis Partum Millenio Ac Triceno Sexto Percte An Prioris in Tre Vocati Bonaventure Hoc Condidentis VCSQ Orantes Dicam Rya O Mat. Virgo Tuum Natum Deprecando Cum Sco Vincentio et Martire Anastasio...
The bell tower recalls to the memory other gentilitial towers of the town with the double lancet windows having a low and narrow level of support in the centre, useful for storing bows and instruments of defence on or displaying standards and banners.
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