The fried olives keep calling us back … to Ascoli Piceno

Can you blame us?

Every time my younger son and I travel to Ancona, the regional capital of Italy’s Marche region, for his track & field races, we detour from the highway to visit the striking town of Marche’s Ascoli Piceno.

While we greatly admire this picturesque town and its stunning architecture (you can see my earlier post on this historic town that is well worth a visit on your next trip to the region), we are primarily driven by our grumbling stomachs.

Ascoli Piceno is the town that gave birth to the olive ascolane – delicious fried olives stuffed with meat.

This is a specialty of the region – and a typical appetizier on many an Italian restaurant’s menu.

But eating them freshly fried up on a visit to Ascoli Piceno is an entirely different experience.

You can find this local specialty all over town (and across the region), but my son and I have our favorite spot – Migliori, right off the main town square. There, you can purchase a cone of freshly fried olives. We often buy others to bring home – taking a slice of the Marche back with us to Rome.

This stop off has been a habit for us over the years, and all our visits to the Marche have us taking a  little detour to enjoy this charming town – and to fill our stomachs with this delicious local specialty.

The next time you’re in the Marche, be sure to stop off and visit the impressive historic center of Ascoli Piceno.

And go with an empty stomach – or work up an appetite exploring – because you are certainly going to want to try the town’s contribution to Italian antipasti.

Enjoy your time in gorgeous Ascoli Piceno – and be sure to fill up on those stuffed olives.

We always do!