The town of Lovetch is located at the boundary between the Danubian Plain and the northern foothills of the Balkan Range. It is situated on both sides of Ossum River, where it makes several meanders after leaving the rocky gorge. The choice of settlement location - among the hills Stratesh, Hissarya and Bash Bounar - was prompted by strategic rather than climatic considerations, as in most towns of Mediaeval origin. The town is an important communication center, where the main north-south and east-west roads intersect.

The area around the present - day town was inhabited since prehistoric times. Some of the most interesting Neolithic finds from the Bulgarian lands have been discovered in the Devetashka cave, 24 km from Lovetch. The interesting objects discovered in the course of the archaeological excavations: silver, bronze and copper vessels, ornaments and weapons , stone votive tablets, etc., testify to intensive life in the region during the Antiquity as well. Konstantin Iretchek believed Lovetch to be thw Thracian town Praesudium, mentioned by Ptolemaeus as a trading center of the local Thracian tribes. The first appearance of the Romans in the region was connected with the march against Bastarnae in 29 A.D., but Roman rule was finaly consolidated only after the two successful marches of Emperor Traianus against the Daciansat the beginning of the 2nd century A.D.