Comunanza: Sacred Art, Churches and Routes

Comunanza amid art, churches and landscapes

Comunanza offers several ways to experience a trip: sacred art, churches bearing traces of different eras, Lago di Gerosa, as well as trekking and cycling routes. A local speciality adds a culinary dimension to this cultural and landscape perspective. This allows you to take different interests and an individual pace of travel into account when planning your trip.

Art and historical layers

The Museo di arte sacra di Comunanza is housed in Palazzo Pascali. It preserves an 18th-century processional cross with a depiction of Christ from the 14th century, attributed to the goldsmith Pietro Vannini from Ascoli. The Chiesa di Santa Maria a Terme dates from the 9th century and was built over the remains of a temple dedicated to Dionysus. The Roman bridge of Gerosa crosses the Aso River along the route of the ancient Via Salaria.

Churches as witnesses to different eras

The Chiesa di Santa Caterina d’Alessandria was rebuilt in the 18th century in the neoclassical style. It has a monumental two-manual organ with more than 2,000 pipes, originating from the Basilica della Santa Casa di Loreto. The Chiesa di San Francesco was built at the end of the 13th century over the remains of a fortified building above an old mill. Behind the main altar, it preserves a 16th-century fresco depicting Saint Francis receiving the stigmata, possibly attributed to Sebastiano Ghezzi. The church is considered to be open at all times; it should be contacted for Mass times. The Chiesa di S.Anna was built of sandstone in the 9th century, stands over the remains of a temple dedicated to Dionysus, and preserves fragments of frescoes dated approximately to the 13th century.

Library and cultural life

The Biblioteca civica is housed in three rooms in Palazzo Pascali and was opened to the public in July 2008. Book presentations, thematic meetings, seminars and theatre events are organised there.

Lago di Gerosa and vegetation

Lago di Gerosa can be reached via the municipal area of Comunanza. The predominant vegetation around the lake includes downy oaks, hop hornbeams, hornbeams, chestnut trees, ash trees, spruce trees and Aleppo pines.

Trekking and cycling routes

Stage 7 of the CFM from Comunanza to Venarotta is a trekking route. The GABA trail is 100 kilometres long, divided into seven stages, and passes through the municipalities of Ascoli Piceno, Venarotta, Comunanza, Roccafluvione, Montegallo and Acquasanta Terme. “Amandola - Smerillo - Comunanza - Amandola” is a circular cycling route starting in the centre of Amandola.

Local speciality and choosing your stay

Tordo Matto alla Comunanzese has been a characteristic and exclusive speciality of the town centre and some districts of the municipality of Comunanza for around half a century. When choosing a hotel in Comunanza, you can focus your trip on sacred art, the Biblioteca civica, Lago di Gerosa, local culinary character, or trekking and cycling.

More destinations

More destinations: Venarotta, Castignano, Montefiore Dell'aso, Lisciano, Porchia, Balzo, Capradosso, Centobuchi

To the higher-level travel overview: Ascoli Piceno.