Offida

Offida is one of the most intresting and beautiful towns of the Ascoli Piceno Province.

Offida is a very old town with its pre-historic origins, Dominated by Romans, Offida was a feud in the 11th century and became a free municipality in the 13th and 14th centuries.
Offida is rich in monuments:
Santa Maria della Rocca is the most precious testimonies of the Romanesque architecture in the whole region Marche and a great examples of Piceno monastic art. It was a Longobard castle, transformed by Farfa's Monks around 1000. It has three high, slender polygonal apses, with a Gothic portal at the foot of the central apse. Inside, visitors may admire interesting frescoes dating back to the 14th century

The triangular main piazza dominated by the beautiful town hall - one of the finest examples of 15th century civic architecture in the Marche.

The Municipal Palace (13th-14th centuries) has on its main front a porch with cylindrical columns and round arches made of brickwork. The arches hold a slender loggia. Inside, an intresting pinacoteque and the Archaeological Museum.

Thehe Sant'Agostino Sanctuary (14th century, re-built in the 18th century) shows on its left side Romanesque-Gothic characters. Inside there are intresting paintings by local artists and a precious reliquary of the Eucharistic Miracle.

The Church of Addolorata has a Renaissance porch

The façade of the church del Suffragio has the most ancient walls in Offida.

Explore the town centre, made of narrow alleyways and look out for the numerous Renaissance details.
You will note women seated at their doorways in old town passageways, working intently, often with great rapidity, with bobbins, threads of white or grey yarn and pins on designs of flowers and animals. This is the pillow-lace tradition, one of Offida's most common crafts.

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Travel & Events

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• Offida
• pillow lace
• Santa maria della Rocca
• Pizzo a tombolo