From Pesaro to San Benedetto del Tronto

Traveling along the provincial road 73 then we come to Montefabbri, a little architectural gem. The first thing that catches the eye is its conformation, praticamente intatta nella sua cinta di mura che lo protegge e la prima impressione che si ha visitando il piccolo borgo è quella di tornare indietro nel tempo. The entrance is through the urbica door, which consisted of the only access to the castle (now there are other stairways that cut the walls and allow access to them). The arch in ancient times supported the drawbridge and you can still identify the niches where the arms of the bridge fell. On the two sides of the arch you will see a Madonna del latte in sandstone at the entrance, while on the inside there is the marble coat of arms of Francesco Paciotti, civil and military architect, first count of Montefabbri. Just entered, in the main square, awaits you there Church of San Gaudenzio, one of the oldest parish churches of the Archdiocese of Urbino. Note the baptismal font obtained from a Roman stone and the chapel of Santa Marcellina which preserves the remains of the homonymous saint.

After having traveled the winding roads that rise and fall among the green of the Marche countryside, Urbino, is the next step. Compare tra le dolci colline del Montefeltro, city ​​with a thousand-year history where you can breathe the Renaissance. Discovering the city of Raffaello and its historic center, world heritage ofUnesco from the 1998. Urbino is a four-handed work of art painted by man and nature, it is a magical place that witnesses the passage between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. From the historic center of Urbino, protected as a World Heritage Site byUNESCO, the tour full of art takes shape, the magnificent Ducal Palace, where Federico da Montefeltro lived. The palace, characteristic for the facade with its small towers, it is the seat of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, che conserva una delle più belle ed importanti collezioni d’arte del Rinascimento italiano. Sono presenti splendide opere di artisti quali Raffaello, Piero della Francesca, Paolo Uccello, Tiziano e Melozzo da Forlì. Between the rooms of the building, there is a wonderful and private place, where Federico used to spend time: lo studiolo del duca che custodisce pregevoli stucchi sulla volta ed è rivestito nella fascia inferiore di legni intarsiati da Baccio Pontelli su disegni di Sandro Botticelli, Francesco di Giorgio Martini and Donato Bramante. A few steps away you will find yourself in front of the imposing Duomo. In the years 1474-1488, the Romanesque-Gothic Cathedral is rebuilt from the foundations, designed by the Sienese Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1501), according to simple and elegant Renaissance modules, but completed only between 1604 and the 1607, con la cupola ottagonale disegnata dall’urbinate Muzio Oddi (1539-1639) expecting Martin's project. The Cathedral has a three-nave plan with a sober neoclassical decoration of pilasters and capitals, punctuated by the altars of the side aisles which preserve paintings of great historical and artistic value, such as the Martyrdom of St.. Sebastiano (1535-1612) and the S. Cecilia by Federico Barocci, by Raphael. Stroll through the alleys of the city and visit the Oratory of San Giovanni, where you can admire an impressive cycle of frescoes, made between 1415 and the 1416, dai fratelli Lorenzo and Jacopo Salimbeni from San Severino Marche. Entering this sacred place, one is struck by the scenic power of the frescoes and the fulcrum of the work: the crucifixion that covers the apse wall. In addition, the Oratory of San Giuseppe, where the sculptural complex depicting the Nativity of Christ is kept, realizzato da Federico Brandani artista di fama internazionale per i suoi stupendi stucchi. The work, made between 1545 and the 1550, in tuff and pumice stone it has a particular location, it is kept inside a chapel entirely covered with tuff to recreate the environment of a cave as much as possible. The Raphael's birthplace, built in the fifteenth century it was purchased in 1460 by Raphael's father, Giovanni Santi (1435 – 1494) humanist, poet and painter at the court of Federico da Montefeltro, who organized his own workshop where Raphael (1483-1520) learned the first notions of painting. After visiting the landmarks of the city you will surely be hungry, it's time to make a delicious stop! La Crescia, a kind of piadina that goes with Salame di Montefeltro, the Prosciutto di Carpegna, Pecorino di fossa and especially Caciotta, a pecorino D.O.P. with a good glass of Marche wine. Goodness that will make you lick your mustache and give you energy to continue the journey!

A small detour takes us to Sant'Angelo in Vado, in the middle of a pleasant landscape characterized by the first Apennine spurs that flank the road. Of medieval origins, è sorto sulle rovine della romana Tiphernum Mataurense. L’abitato medievale fu dedicato all’Arcangelo Michele e definito ‘in Vado’ from the ford along the Metauro. The historic center is full of beautiful monuments from various eras: from the fourteenth century Palace of the Reason dominated by the coeval Civic Tower (‘The Campanon’) to the eighteenth-century Cathedral, from the ancient Santinelli Palaces, Grifoni, Clavari and Mercuri at the seventeenth-century Palazzo Fagnani (majestic town hall since 1838). Among the most significant churches we remember: S. Maria extra muros with the adjacent former monastery of the Servants of Mary, S. Chiara with its convent, S. Caterina del Corso and S. Catherine of the Bastards, the seventeenth-century octagonal church of S. Filippo and the oratory of the Immaculate Conception, S. Bernardino, S. Francesco and the sixteenth century S. Maria degli Angeli with adjacent coeval cloister. Not far from the church complex of San Francesco, in the Campo della Pieve area, rises the “Domus of the myth”, the most important archaeological find that has come to light in the last few years 50 years. Erected towards the end of the 1st century AD., it is wide approx 1.000 square meters and embellished with a rich complex of mosaics. Another spectacular room is the triclinium which depicts a hunting scene and a fishing scene surrounded by a festive repertoire of black and white geometric motifs.. Sant’Angelo in Vado is the birthplace of Taddeo and Federico Zuccari who at the end of the sixteenth century ventured into a cyclopean work, that is, illustrated the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. E’ the capital of the prized White Truffle; in the last three weeks of October and in the first of November the National White Truffle Show is held. E’ there is also an Experimental Center of Tartuficulture.

The tour continues in the direction Piobbico, from the 1879 the original is located Ugly Club, Known all over the world, counts beyond 30.000 members and 25 offices around the world. Every year, in September, the festival dedicated to it is held. Dominated by the imposing mass of Mount Nerone, one of the highest peaks in the Apennines that looms over the Candigliano river valley with steep slopes and is engraved by valleys, paper, natural arches and spectacular canyons carved into the limestone rock. With his 1525 m high Monte Nerone is a real "massif" in that, in addition to the main peak, it includes some minor ones such as Monte del Pantano (1427m), the Montagnola (1486m) and the Cimaio (1227m). A circa 13 km is then .Apecchio, almost near the border of the province of Pesaro with that of Perugia, along the state road that goes up to the Passo di Bocca Serriola (m.730). It is at the center of a large municipal area including the top of Mount Nerone (m.1526), and is perched on the fluvial terrace formed by the confluence of the Biscubio with the Menatoio. Of ancient origins documented by archaeological finds and old ruins, from the century. XV al 1752 it was the domain of the Ubaldini counts who left significant monuments and precious works of art there. It is the characteristic of the late medieval period humpback bridge which with a single arch leads into the village. It leads to the fifteenth-century arch that passes under the bell tower, symbolic entrance to the castle’ with its characteristic fourteenth-century layout. The ancient Ubaldini Palace (today Town Hall), designed by the architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini, it is a characteristic example of Renaissance architecture, especially for the beautiful arcaded courtyard dating back to 1515 together with the underlying neviera. The interesting one is now located in the evocative undergrounds “Museum of Fossils and Minerals of Monte Nerone” and the “International Center for Historical Geo-cartographic Studies”. On the ground floor it also houses the Municipal Theater o “of the Amateur Dramatics”, built in 1876. The Sanctuary of the Most Holy Crucifix, once Pieve di San Martino, it houses important works, such as the seventeenth century simulacrum carved in wood and a painting from 1607 depicting the Madonna del Carmelo between the Della Rovere dukes and the Ubaldini counts, as well as other paintings of the seventeenth century. The Church of the Madonna della Vita is also of interest (sec. XVI), inside which there is a beautiful wooden crucifix of the century. XIV. Another tourist attraction is the Jewish quarter, with the characteristic alley of the Jews, considerato uno dei più stretti tra quelli esistenti in Italia. A poca distanza da Apecchio, in frazione Colombara, the well-known is found World map of peace, entirely built in wood, internally divided into three floors and suitable to contain six hundred people. It is a globe of 10 meters in diameter capable of mimicking the Earth's rotation; for its exceptional size it is included in the Guinness Book of Records. Apecchio is part of the National Association of the City of Beer. In the first weekend of October, the “Truffle market exhibition and beer festival”.

Pietralunga, Montone, Montefelcino, Foligno, Colfiorito e Muccia to reach a basin surrounded by beautiful green hills and the Sibillini Mountains in the background, there is the largest hydroelectric basin in the Marche Region, the Lake of Fiastra, its waters will strike you and amaze you with their clarity and intensity of color. Light blue, dark blue, turquoise, sapphire, Emerald, cobalt blue, there are numerous shades that will appear to you and which will always be different with the variation of the light, of the brightness and of the glimpses and promontories from which you will admire it. Tutta l’area intorno era già nota da un punto di vista archeologico ben prima della costruzione della diga: tombs with sacred items, fragments of ceramic vessels attributed to the Neolithic, lame, scrapers and scratchers that were used by the Paleolithic man to hunt and scratch the hides. Today these treasures and artifacts belonging to the past have been returned to the Marche community and kept at the National Archaeological Museum of the Marche.. Going up to the next stage you find it Bolognola, and even higher Painting, a very popular ski resort for winter sports lovers.

Understood Sassotetto, si scende verso Sarnano, for about 12 km on a road full of bends and curves with breathtaking views, sulla quale viene disutato da oltre 50 years a speed championship for historic and modern cars, Sarnano è città termale e turistica.. The town is part of the club of the most beautiful villages in Italy and has been awarded the Orange Flag by the Italian Touring Club. Recently, some tourist walking routes have been enhanced to visit the Cascatelle, Formed by a suggestive jump of the Tennacola river, one of the two tributaries of the Tenna that surround the town, the cascades of the Romans in Sarnano are a small oasis of water, immersed in a shady wood. Very close to the town and easy to reach in any season, the Cascatelle are one of the most visited naturalistic sites, especially in summer, when they offer a cool refuge from the heat. A true oasis nestled in the Marche mountains, which helps to relax and meditate or take a regenerating walk following the paths of the park before a refreshing dinner and then stop for one night e di cenare in uno dei numerosi ristoranti gustando le specialità locali, such as "Tagliatelle al Cinghiale" and "Ciauscolo", un un salume tipico della tradizione contadina.