Montalto, DIOCESE of (Montis ALTI), in Ascoli Piceno. The situation of the little town of Montalto is very attractive. Originally (1074) under the jurisdiction of the abbots of Farfa, it was annexed in 1571 by Pius V to the Diocese of Ripatransone. In 1586 Sixtus V, a native of Montalto, made it an episcopal see. The first bishop was Paolo Emilio Giovannini; other bishops were Orazio Giustiniani (1640), later a cardinal, and Francesco Saverio Castiglioni (1800), who became pope under the name of Pius VII. The diocese has 33 parishes with 29,000 inhabitants; 79 secular and 4 regular priests; 1 religious house of men, and 1 of sisters.
Cappellbtti, Chiese d'Italia, III (Venice, 1887).
U. Benigni.