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The Ager Gallicus was the territory in northern Picenum that had been occupied by the Senones and was conquered by RomeLivy 5,33-55; Diodorus Siculus 14,113–117 between 284 and 282 BC, after the battles of the Lake Vadimon and Populonia.
The territory corresponds to the portion of the modern Marche region lying north of the Esino, on the coast Adriatic Sea.
The territory had earlier been part of Picenum but was then annexed by the Romans and became an ager publicus (Roman state land) and they made the town at Senigallia a colony.Livy book 11
In order to control the population and mercantile activities of the Ager, the Romans also founded the coastal colonies of Ariminum (Rimini), Pisaurum (Pesaro) and Fanum Fortunae (Fano). The administration of the inland was organized in 232 BC by the Lex Flaminia de agro Gallico et Piceno viritim dividendo, which created a network of prefectures ( praefecturae), some of which, in the mid-1st century BC, were granted the status of municipium: Aesis (Iesi), Suasa, Ancient Ostra, and Forum Sempronii (Fossombrone).
The construction, in 220 BC, of the Via Flaminia shifted the relative position of the Ager, which was now connected to the seat of power by the consular road that traversed it along the Metauro river valley.
The Diocletian reform of 300 AD split the Ager from Umbria, and combined with the Picenum to become the province Flaminia et Picenum.
Later, under emperor Theodosius I, the territory was split again (this time from Picenum, which became the province of Picenum Suburbicarium), and became part of the province of Flaminia et Picenum Annonarium. Some scholars see in this new name, which for the first time included the word "Picenum", as an acknowledgement (albeit belated) by Rome of the Italic people known as the Picentes, which had lived in the area between the 10th and 4th century BC.Nereo Alfieri, Le Marche e la fine del mondo antico, in Atti Mem. Deputazione Storia Patria delle Marche. 86, 1983, pp. 9–34.
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