Sant'Elpidio a Mare is on a ridge of Marche Apennine, elevation 251 metres (823 ft) above sea level, between the lower river valleys of the river Tenna and Ete Morto, 9 kilometres (6 mi) from the Adriatic Sea.

The town was originally named Cluana. The village of Cluana acquired Saint Elpidius' relics in the seventh century in exchange for the donation of a piece of land. The relics of Elpidius and his companions Eustace and Ennesius were consigned to the local inhabitants, and the town later acquired the new name of Sant'Elpidio a Mare. The relics of Elpidius are considered to have saved the town from a Lombard siege; tradition states that the saint appeared in the sky asking the inhabitants to defend the village.

The city occupies the territory belonged to Cluana, the ancient Roman city bathed by the river Chienti and destroyed by the Goths in the early 400s. In 887, one of the oldest and most powerful Benedictine abbeys of the Marches' "Imperial Abbey of the Holy Cross to Chienti" was founded. The medieval village with the name of the Castle of Sant 'Elpidio, located in the eleventh century on the hill on top of which is home to the Church of Our Lady of Light. Elevated to the rank of a free commune in 1250, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor ordered the construction of a port between the rivers Chienti and Tenna. In later centuries it attracted the bitter hostility from neighboring Fermo. Destroyed in 1328 by the mercenary troops from Monteverde, it was destroyed again by the Ghibelline Rinaldo from Monteverde in 1376 and in 1377.

In 1380 the Elpidiensi rebuilt the country of the church on the hill at the top of the Piazza Giacomo Matteotti is bounded by the Parish of Sant'Elpidio Abate, from the tower of Jerusalem, Lateranenze the Basilica of Our Lady of Mercy and the town hall. In 1431, the army of Francesco Sforza breached the walls and sacked the town. In 1797, on the hill of the Capuchins General Rusca Army of Napoleon Bonaparte local Militias loyal to the Pope and encompasses the country in the Department of Tronto, with capital Fermo. In 1828, Pope Leo XII issued a bull which bestowed city status on it. During the Second World War, the territory was administered by the Italian Social Republic. In 1952, Porto Sant 'Elpidio became an independent municipality, for which the territory of the municipality decreases of 18.14 km².

...
Wikipedia