Pioraco is a comune

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

(municipality) in the Province of Macerata

Province of Macerata

The Province of Macerata is a province in the Marche region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Macerata.It has an area of 2,774 km², and a total population of 301,701 . There are 57 comunes in the province, see Comunes of the Province of Macerata.-External links:*...

 in the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 region Marche

Marche

The population density in the region is below the national average. In 2008, it was 161.5 inhabitants per km2, compared to the national figure of 198.8. It is highest in the province of Ancona , and lowest in the province of Macerata...

, located about 60 km southwest of Ancona

Ancona

Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region....

 and about 40 km southwest of Macerata

Macerata

Macerata is a city and comune in central Italy, the capital of the province of Macerata in the Marche region.The historical city center is located on a hill between the Chienti and Potenza rivers. It consisted of the Picenes city named Ricina, then, after the romanization, Recina and Helvia Recina...

.

History

The territory of Pioraco was settled in the Neolithic Age, as shown by the remains of a Bronze Age

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

 sanctuary on the top of Monte Primo (late 11th-early 10th centuries BC). In Roman times

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

, Pioraco was a settlement on a branch of the Via Flaminia

Via Flaminia

The Via Flaminia was an ancient Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to Ariminum on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans had for travel between Etruria, Latium and Campania and the Po Valley...

, with bridges, temples, public edifices and an aqueduct.

In the Middle Ages, it housed a castle which was a residence of the Da Varano

Da Varano

The Da Varano was an Italian noble family who had an important role in the medieval and Renaissance history of central Italy, as rulers of Camerino and other lands in the Marche and Umbria.- Overview :...

 family, lords of the nearby Camerino

Camerino

Camerino is a small town of 7.135 inhabitants in the Marches , in the province of Macerata, Italy. It is located in the Apennines bordering Umbria, between the valleys of the rivers Potenza and Chienti, about 40 miles from Ancona....

. The presence of paper mills, still active today, is attested from 1346.

Main sights

• Pieve
  Pieve
  In the Middle Ages, a pieve was a rural church with a baptistery, upon which other churches without baptisteries depended.The Italian word pieve is descended from Latin plebs which, after the expansion of Christianity in Italy, was applied to the community of baptized people...
  
  of San Vittorino, known from 1119, built over the remains of a Roman temple, parts of which were used for its construction. It houses frescoes and baptismal font from 1646.
• Romanesque
  Romanesque architecture
  Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
  
   church of San Francesco (1327), with a polygonal apse. The interior was remade in Baroque style: it houses an Annunciation attributed to Arcangelo di Cola  and a Via Crucis by Francesco Mancini
  Francesco Mancini
  Francesco Mancini is an Italian footballer. He last played for Martina in December 2007.-Foggia:He joined Bisceglie in summer 1987, and left for U.S. Foggia of Serie C1 in October 1987, where he spent a decade on. He played in Serie A between 1991 and 1995.He played 2 Serie B games for Foggia in...
  
  . The annexed convent has a frescoed cloister.
• Church of Santissimo Crocifisso, in Lombard-Gothic
  Gothic architecture
  Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
  
   style. It is home to a Crucifix attributed to Girolamo di Giovanni.
• Church of Madonna della Grotta, a small 18th century edifice built in a niche in the rocks, used as hermitage. It has a 15th century wooden statue of the "Madonna with Child".
• Roman Bridge
  Ponte di Pioraco
  The Ponte di Pioraco is a Roman bridge in Pioraco, central Italy, presumably erected under emperor Augustus .It belonged to a branch road of the Via Flaminia, which ran from Nocera Umbra to the east through Pioraco, San Severino, Treia and Osimo to Ancona. The structure has a single arch vault...
  
  .