Across the valley, the small town of Santa Vittoria can be seen and is a ten kilometre drive away. Porto San Giorgio on the coast is reached by road in just over half an hour. Throughout the area are rural, un-touristy villages and towns with medieval histories. The National Park of the Gran Sasso offers amazing walking excursions where not only are the vistas exciting, but lends the opportunity to sight flowers, animals and birds in their natural environment.
Unspoilt and empty of tourists, Le Marche is one of the greenest, prettiest and most civilized places in Italy. It is a charming hill region, full of old country towns that are reminiscent of a medieval tapestry. Although small, Le Marche boasts a wonderful landscape of rounded hills, crossed by eleven valleys, and sandwiched between 180 kilometers of ’Blue Mountains’ of the Sibillini, with their striking rock formations, glacial moraines and Alpine flora, provide a stunning view.
As well as this rustic beauty, the region has a rich cultural history, including the ’ideal Renaissance city’ of Urbino, Raphael’s birthplace, with its fairytale Ducal Palace. And in Ascoli Piceno’s palatial square on the first Sunday in August, you can enjoy all the color and spectacle of the famous Quintana jousting competition and parade. At all times of the year, the square is buzzing with life and energy, classically mixing modern life with the medieval buildings and arcades. Also in August Pesaro is home to the fabulous Rossini Festival, whilst in Loreto, Renaissance art seems to flow from every palazzo and church. And at Macerata, the Arena Sferisterio is one of the grandest settings for opera you can imagine, an amphitheatre seating no less than 7,000 people! For a temperate climate, a refreshing lack of tourists and an abundance of romance and culture, Le Marche is the place to be - a place just waiting to be discovered.
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