1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Urbs Salvia

URBS SALVIA (mod. Urbisaglia), an ancient town of Picenum, Italy, about 8 m. S. of the modern Macerata, and 10 m. S. of Ricina. It was the meeting-point of several ancient roads; the road leading south from Ancona through Ricina and Falerio to Asculum was crossed here at right angles by that from Fanum to Tolentinum, Septempeda (S. Severino) and Nuceria Camellaria, while another led north-east from Urbs Salvia to Pausulae and the coast at Potentia (near mod. Porto Recanati). It seems to have been also called Pollentia. The date of its foundation is unknown, but it became a colony in the time of Trajan, and its importance seems to begin from this period. It was utterly destroyed by Alaric, and both Procopius (B.G. ii. 16, 17) and Dante (Paradiso, xvi. 73) speak of its desolation. The arx is occupied by the modern village; below it considerable remains of the city walls and of the buildings within them, alike of brickwork of the imperial period, are preserved—an amphitheater 328×249 ft., with an arena 190×112 ft., a theatre, baths, tombs, &c. A subterranean aqueduct and a number of inscriptions have been found on the site. Close by is a little chapel with paintings of the early 16th century. The Romanesque abbey church of the Fiastra, about 3 m. to the north, is noticeable. The territory of Urbs Salvia probably extended as far as the old Romanesque church of S. Maria. di Rambona, 8 m. to the north-west.