Cluana
CLUANA a town of Picenum, mentioned by Mela and Pliny, both of whom place it on the coast between Cupra and Potentia. (Mela, 2.4.6.; Plin. Nat. 3.13. s. 18.) Its site has been fixed by a local topographer, on that of a small town, now called S. Elpidio a Mare, about 4 miles from the sea, and the same distance N. of Fermo. (Bacci, Notizie dell' antica Cluana, 4to. Macerata, 1716; Abeken, Mittel ItalIen, p. 120.)
[E.H.B]A Roman municipium on the Adriatic coast (Mela 2.65; Plin. HN 3.13.111) at the mouth of the Chienti river. There remain in situ some inscriptions in the church of San Marone. In the territory of Cluana, from the 1st c. A.D., a vicus Cluentensis has been attested (CIL IX, 5804) on a hill 4 km from the sea where Civitanova Alta now stands. The capital may have been transferred there in the Late Empire. At the end of the 5th c. there was an Early Christian diocesan seat in the town.
BIBLIOGRAPHYCIL IX, p. 554; F. Lanzoni, Le diocesi d'Italia (1927) 393; N. Alfieri, “Cluana,” Antiquitas 6-7 (1951-52), 14-36.
N. ALFIERI