From Preventive Archaeology to the Archaeological Map. Landscape Archaeology in the heart of the Piceno

Bologna University archaeologists’ interest in the Mid-Adriatic area and the Marche region in particular goes back a long time and has its roots in the studies begun by Nereo Alfieri. He was the founder of Bologna’s school of Landscape Archaeology. His drive was behind some of Bologna University’s important projects, such as those of Colombarone and the still ongoing Suasa project along the Cesano river Valley. There have been further projects more recently in the same line of study in Southern Marche region, like the resumption of excavations at Mount Rinaldo and the study of the territory and urban centre of Ascoli Piceno. This interest lies within a wider three year project of drawing up an Archaeological Map on the Provinces of Ascoli Piceno and Fermo, promoted by the Soprintendenza (the Authority responsible for Archaeology). The drafting of this map by researchers from Bologna University, coordinated by the writer of this paper, was begun in 2017 and has already involved a large part of the territory of Ascoli. In parallel, in the context of a similar urban scale research project inaugurated in 2012, a Map of the archaeological Potential of the historical city centre of Ascoli based on the characteristics of Preventive Archaeology was drafted. Finally, a map of the remains of the ancient Salarian Way in the territory of Ascoli was drawn up just before the earthquake in 2015.