Surroundings
“Il paese de li Dolci Colli” (the country of sweet hills)...
This is how Cecco D’Ascoli used to define Marche observing its landscape, and in particular admiring those splendid hills that seem to chase each other. None of its rivals Tuscany and Umbria have such an infinite, magical landscape. Marche are a land to discover and Guido Piovene defined it “the only plural region in Italy”, but “Italy in a region” too, referring to its plural name of course, but doubtless alluding to the thousands of different environments, landscapes and artistic monuments that can be found in less than 10,000 sq km.
The Relais “I Calanchi” is located in the very heart of these natural beauties. The province of Ascoli Piceno has indeed a splendid natural scenario, offering suggestive views and endless reasons to spend a holiday in this area. Visiting this many-sided landscape, a true mosaic of different territories, the setting may vary from the sea, with the sunny beaches of San Benedetto del Tronto and Grottammare, to the gentle, green hills, or the majestic, magical chain of Sibillini Mountains. Every hill is rich in history and the ancient burgs still preserve the fascination of remote ages and events. Many hilly areas, rivers, mountain peaks, national parks and natural reserves can be reached from our hotel during your vacation in Marche. Following, a short description of some of the most beautiful ones:
ASCOLI PICENO: approx. 30 minutes. Ascoli Piceno (defined the “City of Hundred Towers”) with its towers, spires, domes and palaces dominates the valley created by deposits of river Tronto and Castellano. Homes, stately palaces, churches, and squares have all been built in travertine, conferring an exceptional sense of harmony and elegance on the town, austere but bright, and contrasting nicely with the blue sky and surrounding greenery. Piazza del Popolo, one of the most beautiful squares in Italy, is one of the city’s favorite meeting points, where to drink an aperitif, watch a summer show or simply go for a nice walk. It’s also the square where the Quintana (Ascoli's jousting tournament) takes place. In Piazza del Popolo, you can even find the buildings representing the most important medieval powers: political power is represented by Palazzo dei Capitani del Popolo, religious power by St. Francis Church, and commercial power by the Loggia dei Mercanti. A further touch of elegance to this square is given by the famous Caffè Meletti: opened in 1907, it is doubtless worth visiting both to taste its renowned Anisetta Meletti, pastries or traditional “olive all’ascolana”, and to admire its original Liberty furniture.
RIPATRANSONE (City of wine and oil): approx. 10 minutes. In a suggestive setting of Badlands (a geomorphological phenomenon where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded by wind and water), there’s this nice burg, characterized by the warm tones of brick red. The town is famous for its views and medieval remains, among which there is the narrowest alleyway in all Italy, that is only 43 centimeters wide. In the forestry acrobatic park Quercus Park, located in Selva dei Frati, you can take part in adventurous activities in touch with the nature, such as: acrobatic tracks, flying bridges, swinging trunks, ziplines (where you can slide down pending from a pulley hooked into the rope), horizontal stairs, monkey bridges, and lianas. Summer camps are also available onsite. Worth visiting: the Cathedral, Palazzo del Podestà, Mercantini Theatre, the painting gallery, and the Museum of Rural Life – with more than 2,000 pieces, it shows ancient crafts and scenes of rural life dating back to the end of 19th century and the first half of 20th century. The museum has different sections: the blacksmith, shoemaker, and carpenter workshops, lighting systems, folk songs and music, pottery, weaving instruments, means of transportation, wine making and cellars, fieldwork, kitchen stuff, bedrooms, schools and toys. Ripatransone offers an extraordinary view, and this is the reason why it is called the “Belvedere del Piceno” (panoramic viewpoint of the province of Ascoli Piceno).
SAN BENEDETTO DEL TRONTO: approx. 10 minutes. A famous tourist destination since 1800, it has a long, sandy beach, flanked by an elegant promenade with more than 7,000 palm trees, oleanders and maritime pines. It is also famous for its lively fishing port and fish market that takes place every morning, very early, and sells fish by auction. The Ichthyic Museum Augusto Capriotti has 6,500 specimens of fishes and shellfishes, preserved through taxidermy. The highest part of the city has beautiful historical buildings, among which the 14th century Torre dei Gualtieri in the oldest part of the town centre.
GROTTAMMARE: approx. 10 minutes. It is a famous seaside resort in the province of Ascoli Piceno, and has a beautiful promenade with palm trees and a sandy beach. There are many tourist resorts, bathing establishments, clubs and small villas in liberty style surrounded by greenery. The ancient part of the town is located on a hill, where you can find the medieval historical centre of Grottammare.
ACQUAVIVA PICENA: approx. 5 minutes. Dominated by the imposing Fortress, the Ancient Town – that you can enter through a 15th century Gothic door – has preserved its medieval features, with remains of the ancient walls, homes and towers. In the historical centre, there is the Church of St. Rocco, with a Romanesque façade, and the Rocca, one of the most interesting fortresses of the region, built in the 14th century. In summer, the town organizes the Sponsalia, a historical reenactment of the wedding of Rinaldo degli Acquavaiva’s daughter in 1234, with games, medieval dances and a wedding banquet.
OFFIDA: approx. 15 minutes. Travelling along the road of the red wine "Rosso Piceno Superiore DOC", and after having gone through a characteristic landscape of cultivated hills, one arrives at this medieval town. Piazza del Popolo is the heart of the town, and here you can visit the Palazzo Comunale (Town Hall), covered with local “cotto” (terracotta) tiles, and the Collegiata built in the 18th century, with a central nave and two side aisles decorated with plasterworks and paintings. The Church of Santa Maria della Rocca is absolutely worth visiting: located on top of a hillock, in a lonely and majestic location, it is a perfect example of Romanesque-Gothic church with a nave, covered with local “cotto” (terracotta) tiles and built in 1330 on the remains of a small church dating back to the year 1000. Curious tourists strolling through the alleys of the centre will probably come across the women of Offida who, sit by the door in the sun, are making a little bobbin lace: in fact, Offida is one of the most ancient and most important centers for bobbin lacing in Italy. As a proof of the strong, ancient wine making tradition of this town, you can visit the “Enoteca Regionale” housed in the former Convent of San Francesco. The Enoteca is a lively centre that often hosts events promoting local wines and territory: not a mere “Museum of Wine”, but a meeting place where you can discover local traditions, art, culture, and flavors of local products.
FERMO: approx. 30 minutes. It is an ancient, splendid town situated just 6 km from the sea, located in an elevated position on the Sabulo hill. Between 18th and 19th century, it was considered one of the inevitable stops in Italy during the educational travel of European young noblemen. Worth visiting: Piazza del Popolo, the Roman Cisterns – an imposing project undertaken in the 1st century AD, a water reservoir for the town and the port composed of 30 interconnected tanks – the Teatro dell’Aquila, and Piazzale del Grifalco.
ACQUASANTA TERME: approx. 40 minutes. It is a small village located along the via Salaria, famous even in Roman times as Vicus ad Acquas, due to the healing properties of its water, which was used to restore legionaries’ health and heal their wounds. Today the water of Acquasanta has been classified as sulphureous and salso-bromo-iodic water and is used to treat breathing diseases, rhinogenous deafness and all otological pathologies and rheumo-arthropathies.
CIVITELLA DEL TRONTO: approx. 40 minutes. Listed as one of the most enchanting historic villages of Italy, perched on a rocky travertine cliff situated along the road linking Ascoli to Teramo, you can find Civitella del Tronto. It is located at 589 m above sea level and is dominated by its Fortress, the last bastion of the Bourbons of Naples and of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to surrender even after the unification of Italy. The Fortress of Civitella del Tronto is one of the most impressive works of military engineering built in Europe, with over 500 meters in length and 25,000 square meters of total area.
LORETO: approx. 40 minutes. It is located on a hill, in a panoramic position, and is partly surrounded by walls and ramparts. It is a favorite destination for thousands of pilgrims, due to the Shrine of the Holy House, one of the most important Marian sanctuaries in the world. According to the legend, inside the Sanctuary there is the House of Mary, which was brought from Nazareth to Loreto by angels. The Museum-Art Gallery of the Shrine hosts some of the latest and most important works of the great Renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto, among which: St. Christopher, St. Rocco and St. Sebastian, Adoration of the Magi, and Adoration of the Child. He spent the last three years of his life in the Holy House as an oblate – that is a layman working inside the Basilica. Majestic and picturesque, the Piazza della Madonna is dominated by the façade of the Shrine of the Holy House, built in 1468 in gothic style.
MACERATA: approx. 50 minutes. It is a nice, lively city, with lots of stately palaces and a rich university and cultural life. Its historical centre is surrounded by walls, built between 15th and 16th century, around which you can find large parking areas where you can park your car to visit the city on foot. Furthermore, there is the Sferisterio, an open-air theatre, unique in its architectural genre. According to most lyric singers, it is the open-air theatre with the best acoustics in Italy. It derives its name and its half-circumference shaped plan from the name of the game played inside: the “armband ball” or “Pallone col bracciale” (an ancient ball game). It can hold up to 2800 seats and is known since 1921 for its summer lyric season called “Macerata Opera” in the past and today “Sferisterio Opera Festival”.
MONTAPPONE: approx. 50 minutes. It is world famous for the production of straw hats. Inside the Hat Museum, each step of the production is illustrated by slides, pictures, panels and vintage machines. Between the 196 cm dividing the smallest hat, that of a doll, and the most eccentric sun hat, which is 2 mt large, you can find a remarkably wide collection of traditional and innovative hats, including the hat last worn by the Italian cinema maestro and film director Federico Fellini, or the particular boater used in the first years of 20th century. But there are also ceremony hats, odd or chic ones, top hats, boaters, fezzes, cocked hats, leghorn hats, and kepi hats, in a close succession of epochs, stories and styles. The medieval historic centre is worth visiting too: here, you can find the Oratorio del Sacramento, with a Romanesque gateway covered with local “cotto” (terracotta) tiles and frescoes by Vincenzo Pagani (1518).
OUTLET TOUR (shopping): approx. 40 minutes. Marche is famous for shoe production too, and all over its territory you can find many factory outlets, the favorite destination for everybody who loves clothing, shoes and accessories.
This sector started to develop in the 60s and today the success of the brand “Made in Marche” is acknowledged in Italy as well as all over the world. The heart of this district is set in the towns of Fermo, Porto Sant’Elpidio, Sant’Elpidio a Mare, Montegranaro, Monte San Pietrangeli and Casette d'Ete (Tod's), the world leaders in the production of quality shoes. If you’re planning a holiday in Marche, a tour of local outlets is a must, to spend a whole day shopping and buying the latest jewel sandals or signature bags. We suggest you a tour along the “Via della Scarpa”, in the province of Fermo and Macerata.