Ascoli

Ascoli was a commune on the Tronto in the Marche. In 1337 it remained a republic governed by a hired podestà, amid feuds between local families.

The condottiero Galeotto I Malatesta, hired for war against Fermo, made himself lord of Ascoli within a few years. Cardinal Albornoz restored papal authority in the Marche in the 1350s; after Francesco Sforza was driven out in 1482, the city submitted to the papacy.