Casa Julia

 

 

Le Marche is a region of rolling hills, beautiful beaches and sparsely populated too. Are you searching for the perfect place for a family holiday in Le Marche? A villa with a pool in the Marche? A farmhouse near Urbino? A beach holiday near Pesaro?  A residence in the province of Macerata with a pool? Casa Julia can provide them all. Our villa in Le Marche is near Ancona, near Urbino, near Urbania, near the coast - in fact, near everything! Fly into Ancona, Bologna, Forli or Rimini and you are never more than 2.5hrs from anywhere.

Ancona is more than just a stopping off point for flights, the city’s art museum houses works by Titian, Lotto and Crivelli although it is better known for its modern art collection. Not to be missed is the cathedral which was built on the site of a 3rd Century BC temple dedicated to Venus and is an ornate blend of Byzantine, Roman and Gothic styles. And personal experience of the shops leads me to believe that this is the cheapest city in Italy!

 

         

  

This region, as yet largely untouched by tourism, has a history of its own dating back to the time of the Etruscans. Evidence of which can be found in the many archaeological centres now opening up to the inquisitive traveller as much as to the locals whose true heritage is being rediscovered.

The Renaissance of art and food that swept Tuscany and Umbria during the middle ages was also felt in Le Marche. Many of the cities are built around some imposing Castles that children will love including Urbino, Urbania, Jesi, Porto Recanati, theatrical Amandola, operatic Macerata, golden Ascoli Piceno and Baroque Sarnano. Norcia is famous for its truffles but we recommend Acqualagna because it is smaller, easier to get to and easier to park in! Blaze a trail to the beaches and the Riviera del Conero with its cliffs and hidden coves offering wonderful seascapes and enjoy the earthy cuisine, corpulent wines and luscious olives!

 

A windy walled town built on a hill that receives the last rays of the sun when all around is in shadow; "non e' ancor notte a Cingoli", (it's not yet night at Cingoli) goes a popular Marche saying, meaning, "don't count your chickens before they're hatched".

 

The place has also earned the title "the Balcony of the Marche" for its sweeping panoramas - the best views are from behind the church of San Francesco. Climb up Corso Garibaldi to Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, once the forum of Roman Cingulum and still the heart of this stone-built town.

To one side stands a fine 16thC Renaissance town hall with a much earlier clock tower. Inside is the smart, newly arranged Museo Archeologico with interesting Bronze Age lumber - to see the collection call at the library (Biblioteca comunale) in Via Mazzini 1. The library also houses the town's Pinacoteca, or art gallery, with another of the region's serendipity collections of paintings by Lorenzo Lotto, this time a splendid Madonna of the Rosary.

Cingoli's brief moment of glory came with the one-year papacy of its son, Pius VIII, in 1829; it was he who ordered a new facade for the late Baroque Cathedral on the main piazza, never finished due to his early death. Behind the town hall is hushed Via del Podesta', Cingoli's most atmospheric street.

 

Just south of Ancona rises the solitary limestone peak of Monte Conero whose steep slopes slide down to the sea and the prettiest beaches on the whole of the Northern Adriatic shore. The beauty of the place means that its three small resorts offer standing room only in July and August; come in late May, early September or, best of all, June.

 

From Ancona, the first port of call is Portonovo, the smallest retreat on the Conero Riviera. Gasp at the picture postcard views out to sea as you wind down the dead-end road to this collection of hotels, restaurants, campsites and makeshift beach huts on a narrow strip of beach. The strand is split in two by the Fortino Napoleonico, a squat, blank-eyed fort built in 1808 by Napoleon's Italian Viceroy to fight off English ships. It is now a most singular hotel.

At the end of the road, where the evergreen oaks that smother the mountain come down to the sea, stands the early Romanesque church of Santa Maria. Built between 1034 and 1048, its curious form is unique in Italy and looks as if it might be more at home in Normandy.

Back on the main road, the Conero trail skirts the base of the mountain with sweeping views inland. Around 8 km S from the junction for Portonovo, follow signs for Monte Conero to drive up to Badia di San Pietro, built in the 12thC as a Benedictine Hermitage and now a hotel. This is the highest point on the mountain reachable by car and worth the journey for the views.

The whole area was declared a regional nature park in 1987 and a web of signed footpaths cover the peak - maps and information from the Consorzio del Parco del Conero at Sirolo. On the summit (572 mt) traces of a Paleolithic settlement dating back 100,000 years have been discovered - the earliest signs of human presence in the region.

 

The southern spur of Conero shelters the riviera's two chief resorts. Sirolo is the most attractive, with a spruce medieval centre and a tree-lined, balcony piazza that teeters high above the sea. The best beaches are accessible using a half-hourly bus service that drops down to each of the coves. The mass of campsites and hotels below the old town runs seamlessly into more of the same at Numana. Still, it has a fine long beach to the south and an archaeological museum documenting the history of the Piceni tribes who lived here until Rome muscled in (Via La Fenice, 4).

To escape from the crowds make for one of the many small isolated coves only reachable by boat - regular services in season from Numana, Sirolo and Portonovo.

Sirolo also boasts the Conero Golf Club, the region's fine course for golfers. You can find out more here in a site about the Conero Peninsula.