danasgirl

We are going to train from Venice to Ravenna, stay in Ravenna for two or so days and then were hoping to find a nice little beach town to relax on before we make our way to Florence. Anyone have any ideas? Have heard not so great things about Rimini. We will train to the beach town, then train to Florence. We do not plan to rent a car until after our time in Florence.

Thanks!!

DRJ

Cesenatico (sp?). On the Adriatic and Marcella Hazan's home town.

ellenem

I little further south, I enjoyed my recent visit to Pesaro. (It's also easy to daytrip to Urbino from Pesaro.)

danasgirl

ohhh these both look great. Though I think I am leaning toward Cesenatico because it is smaller...less tourists, more locals.

danasgirl

The more research I have done on Cesenatico and Cervia the less I'm liking them. They seem like mini Miami Beaches to me. Iwas really hoping for a sleepy little fishing village as opposed to a beach full of high rises. Does this even exist near Ravenna?
Any one have any other recommendations? :}

bobthenavigator

You are on the wrong coast for that unless you go south to Puglia.

zeppole

Bob is right -- well, almost right. You don't have to go quite that far south, but you need to get to the bottom of Le Marche.

Would it help if I told you that the small port of Cesanatico was designed by Leonardo da Vinci? It also has restaurants that people sing about (including Michelin).

You also might reconsider Rimini if you think about submitting yourself to the forces that shaped Federico Fellini.

Look at the Marche Voyager website and see if anything appeals to you.

zeppole

Here's the link to beaches:

http://www.le-marche.com/Marche/html/beaches.htm

zeppole

This might help to for descriptions of the riviera del conero area

http://www.deliciousitaly.com/visual...&regione_id=10

zeppole

This video of Sirolo is so sweet and charming and over the top you should see it (it's got a soundtrack)

http://www.fabiofava.it/conero/sirolo/sirolo.htm

I've never been, but it wouldn't be a day hop from Ravenna. And I think the video was probably shot at 6am on a winter's day! I'm sure it's usually a tad more crowded.

zeppole

Or if you are hugely motivated, it would take you about 4 hours to get to the beaches of Tuscany (around Camaiore, Versillia, etc), where you won't see high rises, but no fishing boats either and lots of beach chairs. That would be about 5 hours to Monegila or Cinque Terre. (That's compared with about 3 hours to the furthest points south of Le Marche.)

Were it me, I'd just go have a blast in Rimini.

danasgirl

Thanks for all of your help zeppole and bob. I will check out all the links you posted and rethink where we should go. I'll probably be back with more questions so don't go away.

danasgirl

Zeppole - ahhhh, the video link you sent is incredible. I wanted to crawl through my computer and onto one of the beaches!!

Thank you for your recommendations Zeppole, but I really don't want to take 4 hours to get to the type of beach destination that I was hoping to find. I'd rather just hop on a train and be at the beach in a short bit...so that is why I am thinking either San Mauro Mare, Cesenatico or Cervia for our beach stay. San Mauro Mare is my first choice, but I am having a difficult time finding accommodations. Seems like everyone is booked for our dates July 15-18 or they really don't want an American family staying in their establishment!!

zeppole

They are probably booked. Italian proprietors usually very much enjoy American clients because when Americans say they are booking for only two people, or whatever, -- that's all that shows up! Italians often book a room, and bring a lot more people -- or so goes the lore of hotel and landlords I have spoken, too.

I think you are right to want to have a short trip there. Cesanatico would be my pick because the port is designed by da Vinci. However, I don't know the other places.