Ripatransone

Ripatransone is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Ascoli Piceno in the Italian region Marche, located about southeast of Ancona and about northeast of Ascoli Piceno.

==History== The hill of Ripatransone (whose name means "rock of Transone", Transone being a local feudal lord who founded the castle here) has been inhabited since prehistorical times, and was settled first by the Umbri and then the Piceni. After the Roman conquest it lost importance, regaining it in the Middle Ages when several castles were built here, being unified into a single town in 1096. In 1205 it was a free commune, existing in particular rivalry with Fermo and against Francesco Sforza. In 1571 it was given the status of City and that of diocesan see by Pope Pius V. After the Renaissance it was part of the Papal States, becoming part of unified Italy in 1860. However, the Unification of Italy did not bring immediate benefits. Only after the conquest of Rome the economic and social life of Ripa (and the Marche in general) woke up, until the city experienced a new youth. The factors that most influenced the renewed splendor of Ripatransone, whose population grew unceasingly, were the new impulse of agriculture and the investment in the education sector that made it an important center of studies. It was after the two world wars and the Fascist period that, thanks to the economic boom, the emigration and depopulation of the countryside caused a new sudden demographic collapse. Only from the end of the 20th century to the early years of the 21st, also thanks to the event of immigration from abroad, the municipality no longer loses its inhabitants and sees prospects of repopulation.