Remains of a
Bronze Age (10th-9th centuries BC) settlement were found in the communal territory, on a hill overlooking the Tronto river. At the river's mouth existed
Truentum, remembered by Roman writer
Pliny the Elder as part of the Roman region of
Picenum, and attributed to the
Liburni tribe. It was noted during the Roman civil wars as one of the centers occupied by Julius Caesar. It is cited by
Strabo,
Pomponius Mela and
Silius Italicus, also reported in the
Antonine Itinerary and in the
Tabula Peutingeriana. The territories alongside of his river were divided under the reform of
Augustus. After the Roman conquest in the 3rd century BC it became a
municipium and later was reached by the
Via Salaria. Castrum Truentinum was conquered by the
Lombards in the wake of the fall of
Fermo in 580, but in the subsequent centuries most of the inhabitants moved to other centres in the mainland. In the 16th century the Spaniards built here two watchtowers, around which a small borough grew. ==Main sights==