Le Marche Research Help

Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 10:22 AM
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Le Marche Research Help

I am researching a possible trip to Le March for late May. Apparently you can't sort search results on the forum to select just trip reports anymore (at least not easily), so I am asking those who have been to chime in and share their links or any tips or recommendations as I do my initial research. I know jamikins has a few, so those are located. I also found one from sundriedpachino.
details:
The trip would be about 10 days, and so far Urbino and Ascoli Piceno are on the list of possibilities, but we may throw a wild card interior town in there instead. We love the coast, and Monte Conero sounds right up our alley for hiking and seafood (plus we'd fly into Ancona). Would the towns there be coming alive in late May?
Those that recognize my screen name may remember that DH and I are not keen drivers. We fared quite well in Puglia last year, so we're game again--but I want to limit it to the hills and not the mountains. Also, we like staying in towns and not agriturismi. Small towns with a few great restaurants and proximity to nature are our preference. Thanks in advance for any suggestions to send me in the right direction!
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 10:35 AM
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If you use internet search techniques you can come fairly close to finding what you want, although I don't know why they got rid of the more useful filter feature, as you said.

In the search box just put: Marche AND "trip report"

just like that with trip report in quotes. It is sorted by relevance and the ones near the top are trip reports
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 11:17 AM
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Hi Yorkshire

Flame123 also has two trip reports...here is one:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-le-marche.cfm
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 11:18 AM
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And the other

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-le-marche.cfm
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 11:19 AM
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We also like Urbania, it's smaller than Urbino but has some nice restaurants and is smaller than Urbino.

Have fun with your planning!
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 11:23 AM
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Thanks--just read those and need to get back to work, haha!.
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 02:53 PM
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You might want to take a look at the website Le Marche Voyager if you haven't already.

The roads that I drove in Le Marche the foothill/canyon roads were beautifully engineered and not high mountain driving like one finds in the Dolomiti, and certainly not the heart-stopping twists and turns of the Amalfi area. If you are more relaxed not driving on a trip then I think that is quite valid, and it might be possible to put together an itinerary in Le Marche without a car that is rich in rewards. Just trying to give you a picture of the situation. I don't know if you drove on the Gargano peninsula when you were in Puglia, but Le Marche in my experience was not more demanding than that. (I actually hated driving on a lot of Puglia's worst flat roads and through the towns of the Salento.)

One of the highlights of my travels around Italy was visiting Ascoli Piceno.

If you are going to google for older info on Fodor's about le Marche, you should try a google search that includes "bvlienci"

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ome-advice.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...oceto-fano.cfm
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 03:22 AM
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I would agree with sandralist about the name to google - she is one of the most knowledgeable about Le Marche.

However, note that her correct Fodor's name is bvlenci and NOT bvlienci
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 04:51 AM
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Oh -- sorry! I mispell so many things -- including misspell.
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 06:23 AM
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sandralist - not a mispelling as bvlenci is not a word (at least in a language I am familiar with). Perhaps she might illuminate us!

if someone can determine why may screen name is nochblad I will send them a 5 litre canister of Tuscan EVOO.
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 06:56 AM
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Thanks everyone. I am at the head-swimming-with-possibilities phase, especially now that I have seen piano grande images, but I'll wait until the airfare is purchased before delving into specifics and my usual itinerary hand-wringing.
Sandralist, we did not make it to Gargano, as there was just too much to see in Puglia. Every time we drove down from the Alberobello area to the coast at Monopoli, I was holding on for dear life--that is how lame of a passenger I am. I did fine on the drive along the southern coast, but something about mountain driving makes me nervous. I can just close my eyes I guess!
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 07:19 AM
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yorkshire - await bvlenci's input
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 08:33 AM
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I live in Le Marche and would be happy to help you.

A car is not absolutely necessary for a holiday in Le Marche, but traveling by public transportation is limiting, and it takes a lot longer to get anywhere. It would be very difficult to see more than one town in the interior in a day, whereas with a car, you could easily see three or four.

The territory of Le Marche is characterized by river valleys, separated by ridges, that run from the Apennine Mountains down to the sea. The major roads mostly follow the valleys, while some secondary roads run along the ridges. This makes east-west travel easier than north-south travel.

Combined with the fact that the bus companies mainly operate within a single province, this means that inter-provincial travel is not easy without a car. To get from one town in the interior to another, it's often necessary to take a bus to the coast, travel by train to another river valley and take a different bus (maybe even with a different company) back to the interior. The bus schedules are designed mostly for the convenience of high school students, who are their main customers. There are usually several early morning buses running from small interior towns to larger towns with a big high school, and several buses back again in the afternoon, with scarse service in the other direction. There are big gaps in the middle of the day, and often no service after 6 PM. Since people who want to visit the little hill towns usually base in a larger town, this often means that the buses are always running in the wrong direction: It's hard to get to the small towns in the morning, and hard to get back to the base in the afternoon. Sunday service to most towns is nonexistent.

In my experience, the tourist offices in most towns know little or nothing about bus service. In our town, I tried to find out such a simple thing as where the bus stops were, so I could meet a couple coming to visit me by bus, and they had no idea. Most of the tourists in my town are Italian, with a sprinkling of Germans and English speakers, and almost all of them arrive by car.

There is a train line running along the coast, which stops in nearly every town, and another than goes from Rome to Ancona, passing mostly through Umbria and Le Marche. (It actually passes right by Ancona airport, but not many trains stop there.) Staying near any town on a train line makes travel a bit easier, but you still have to consider the distance between your lodging and the station.

In late May, the beach services are in full operation, although most visitors in that period come on the weekend. This makes it an ideal time to visit the beaches, avoiding the crowds. However, the weather is not reliably suitable for the beach in May. One of my daughters used to always visit me in May, but after several successive chilly and damp visits, she decided to come a bit later. However, I would prefer late May or early June to any later period. Once school is out, the beaches begin to get more crowded, and, if you have a car, parking becomes scarse and expensive. A lot of beach parking is free until late June or the beginning of July.

The best scenery along the marchigiano coast is surely at the foot of Mount Conero. The only disadvantages are that the train passes well inland of these towns, and that the beaches are mostly pebbly rather than sandy. Portonovo has a very pretty beach, but very narrow and with little sand. I would have no hesitation about recommending these towns on the Riviera del Conero in late May, if you had a car. (In high season, parking is extremely difficult in these towns.) Without a car, I have to warn you that to visit any other town you'd have to take a bus to Ancona first, and the summer schedule won't be in effect yet.

There are some other towns on the coast that you might consider. Fano is convenient to Urbino (by bus) and has an interesting town center, and some nice sandy, though narrow, beaches, especially north of the port.

Senigallia is perhaps my favorite coastal town. It has a very lively old town center, with interesting shops, which is right behind the beach. (In some towns, the beach is quite distant from the town center.) The beach is wide and sandy. The water is calm, and very shallow unless you walk pretty far out, so it's not be the best beach for avid swimmers. (It's ideal for small children, though.) Senigallia has some excellent restaurants, including two that have two Michelin stars (Uliassi and Madonnina del Pescatore).

Porto San Giorgio, much further south, is convenient to Ascoli Piceno. I've never been to the beach, but I've heard from several people that it's very nice. Friends of ours from Milan have a summer house nearby, and they prefer the beach at Porto San Giorgio.

Torre di Palme, a little south of Porto San Giorgio, is a very pretty little walled town on a cliff above the sea. I don't know how convenient its transportation is, but with a car, it might be a great place to stay. You can see Porto San Giorgio from the town wall.

There are wonderful little walled towns to visit in the interior behind all these towns.

Other than Urbino, Fano is near the village of Mondavio, with a medieval fortress; and the Gola di Furlo, a scenic river gorge, with hiking trails and an ancient Roman tunnel.

Senigallia is near a great many beautiful medieval towns, of which I would highlight Corinaldo, with the best-preserved medieval walls, towers, and gates in Le Marche; Serra de'Conti, another charming medieval town; and the tiny castle hamlets of Piticchio and Loretello.

The Riviera del Conero would be a good base to visit Offagna (with impressive walls), Recanati, and Castelfidardo (home of the Italian fisarmonica, a traditional sort of accordion).

As already mentioned, Porto San Giorgio and Torre de Palme are convenient to Ascoli Piceno, but also to Offida (with an active lace-making tradition); Caldarola (with a nice small privately-owned castle, which has tours); the Abbadia di Fiastra (a medieval abbey located in a nature reserve); and Urbisaglia, which has extensive Roman remains. It would also be possible, I think, to visit some parts of the Sibilline mountains from there by public transportation. The Sibillines are part of the Apennine chain, but are higher than most of the range in central Italy.

One inland town that might make a good base is Fabriano, on the train line between Rome and Ancona, has a nice medieval center and an excellent museum of paper-making. Fabriano isn't far from the Frasassi Caverns, a very beautiful cavern complex, which are on the same train line. There are also buses to some charming villages in the Upper Potenza valley, where we spend a good part of each summer. One of my favorite villages is Pioraco, which also has a paper-making museum, but not as complete as the one in Fabriano. This area was one of the earliest centers of paper making in Europe, and is the home of the well-known Fabriano art paper, which is now made in Pioraco.

If you had a car, Cagli might be a great base, fairly close to Urbino and also to many beautiful parts of the Apennines and their foothills.

I don't know when Sandra was in the Le Marche last. Ten years ago, I would have totally agreed with her about our roads. However, there was terrible flooding here several years ago, and many of the roads are maintained by towns that have almost no budgets for the work. There have been a few floods since then, that, while less severe, have caused further damages to structures already weakened by the first floods. Some roads are still closed, and I suspect may never be reopened, while others are reduced to one lane in places. It's still an easy region to drive in, I would say, with a lower proportion of crazy drivers than some other parts of Italy. Traffic is light almost everywhere.
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 08:35 AM
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BvLenci is a mash-up of my name.
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 09:12 AM
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bvlenci - a truly wonderful insight. Bravissima!
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 09:13 AM
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nochblad

whenever I see your screen name I think of the german word for garlic.

I misspell the mash up of bvlenci's name because I thing it would look more italian if it had an extra vowel in it.
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 09:16 AM
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Regarding when I was last in Le Marche was longer than 10 years ago (probably 2005, not sure).
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 09:16 AM
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thank you so much bvlenci. I knew you would share a wealth of information, so appreciated. We would definitely rent a car, I just wanted to get a sense and plan the routes accordingly as my husband does not like long drives (and I an hopeless behind the wheel).
I am especially glad to know that the Monte Conero area would not be shuttered, as a seaside stay is always on our agenda--more interested in views and walking than the beach--and as a pescetarian, it is a dietary consideration. Also good to know of appealing places nearby if the weather does not cooperate. The craftsmanship of the region (paper as you mentioned and pottery I have read about) is appealing as well.
Now we just have to pull the trigger on airfare and there are a few other contenders, but I feel well prepared to put together a Le Marche itinerary now. And if not this year, then one day!
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 10:14 AM
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Some famous Italian names rhyme with Lenci, like

Benci - Genevra de'Benci was a subject of a painting by Leonardo da Vinci.

Cenci - Beatrice Cenci was executed for killing her father in the 16th century. She became a popular heroine, because he was violentally abusive, and the Romans thought she should have done him in even sooner. There's a famous painting also of her, although I can't remember who is the artist at the moment.

Then there are the well-known (?) Lenci dolls, which apparently have nothing to do with the surname.

Another interesting factoid: Italy has an enormous diversity of surnames, around 350,000, many of which are found almost entirely in a very restricted area. The ten most common surnames in Italy cover only 1% of the population, while Smith alone accounts for almost 1% of the population of the UK.

http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/C.../cognomi.shtml

I once saw the surname "Cinquantaquattro" (fifty-four) roll by on the credits of a TV show, and thought I must have been imagining it. However, I checked the telephone book, and sure enough, there is a family in Italy with that name. I did a little checking and found many other "numerical" surnames.
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 10:59 AM
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If you like fish, you should keep your eye out for river and lake trout (trota).

http://www.marchebestway.com/it/ecce...se-delle-trote


On another matter, I think there was a Miss Italia whose name was Ienco (not L, but "I", as in the first person pronoun).
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