Casa sul Tramonto

SHOPPING

The nearest village is Rapagnano which, although very small, has a supermarket, delicatessen, post office, chemist and garage.  There is a bigger supermarket ten minutes drive away and a shopping centre 15 minutes away near Fermo.  The fruit and vegetables are, by and large, produced in Italy and in the summer the produce from the Aso Valley is available in the supermarkets.

Le Marche is a shoe manufacturing area and there are many factory outlets where you can buy shoes, bags and designer clothes direct from the manufacturers at discounted prices. 

WINE TASTING

Although you don’t find wines from Le Marche on the shelves outside Italy very often it doesn’t mean they’re not world class wines.  Everybody knows Verdicchio but there are other delicious white wines to sample produced locally as well as full-bodied yet subtle reds.  With a little notice we can arrange a trip to a vinyard.

EATING OUT

Le Marche is the home of the Slow Food movement and you can find many examples of first class cuisine in the area.  You can eat very simply, maybe a pizza cooked in a woodburning oven or a plate of grilled meat and salad or indulge yourself at one of the many excellent restaurants in the area.  You can feast on seafood at Porto San Giorgio or venture into the hills and eat imaginatively prepared locally sourced meat and vegetable dishes at an agriturismo or family-run restaurant. 

EATING IN

If you would like to eat in one evening but not cook then, by prior arrangement, Maggie would be delighted to cook for you.  All you need to do is sit out on the terrace and relax with a glass of prosecco while your meal is prepared. All ingredients will be sourced locally, with many vegetables coming from our own garden and eggs from our friendly free-range hens. Please ask for a sample menu.

PLACES TO VISITPorto San Giorgio is a 25 minute drive away.  There is a safe sandy Blue Flag beach and a bustling marina.  There are many seafood restaurants on the beach where you can have lunch after a busy morning sunbathing.  On Thursday mornings there is a large, colourful market. 

Fermo is the new provincial capital and dates back to 264BC.  You can sit with a coffee or aperitivo outside one of the bars round the lovely Piazza del Popolo or explore some of the sights Fermo has to offer, including the Roman aqueduct, the theatre and the cathedral.  In August there is a mediaeval spectacular – a Palio – which takes place over several days.

Sarnano is a mediaeval walled town and sits in the foothills of the Sibillini mountains and National Park and is only a short drive away from Sassotetto where you can ski in the winter months, snow permitting of course.  The town plays host to a variety of concerts, events and festivals throughout the year, notably the Mostra Mercato (antiques and crafts exhibition) which starts on the last Saturday of May and lasts for two weeks and the famous Palio del Serafino every August.

Not far from Sarnano is Lake Fiastra, a beautiful blue man-made lake where you can picnic and swim.

Macerata hosts an open-air Opera Festival, the sferisterio, which takes place in an impressive 7,000 seat stadium from 29 July until 10 August in 2010.  The town centre was built mostly between the 16th and 19th centuries.

Loreto is set on a hill and you will see the imposing cathedral as you drive on the autoroute.  The cathedral contains what is said to be the home of The Virgin Mary which houses a black Madonna and is a place of pilgrimage, second only to Lourdes. 

Ascoli Piceno is the regional capital of southern Le Marche.  Although relatively large compared with other towns in the area, the centro storico, historic centre, can easily be seen on foot.  In the corner of the Piazza del Popolo, the travertine-paved main square, is the bar where Meletti Anisette was invented and produced for the first time in 1870 by Silvio Meletti.  La Quintana, Ascoli’s medieval jousting tournament, takes place there on the first Sunday of August.

You may find the website of Marche Voyager useful if you want to discover more about the history of the region.  www.le-marche.com