This area of the river Tenna plain had been densely populated by the Piceni since the archaic age[3] and the city became a centre of some importance in the region of Picenum.

Of the monumental construction, attributable to the Augustan age although completed under Tiberius and subsequently renovated several times, the first two levels of the cavea, the orchestra, the two side entrances, the proscenium and remains of the stage apparatus can still be admired.

The cavea has a diameter of about 50 m and the third level was built on a vaulted gallery fronted by an arched façade of which numerous bases remain with semi-columns once covered with marble.

When the theatre was first excavated in 1777 with the sole purpose of enriching the Pope Pius Clementinus museum in Rome, the walls were still covered with coloured marbles and bronze fittings.

Its prestigious status in the city is shown by its embellishment with the statues donated by Antonia Picentina, priestess of Diva Faustina (wife of emperor Antoninus Pius) towards the middle of the second century AD.

A precious mosaic floor is exhibited in the Vatican Museums, while in nearby Fermo a head of the emperor Augustus and a bronze steelyard are visible.