That’s Marche, Italy

My friends and followers know that the overall idea behind this blog is that of showing the ‘real’ Italy ‘as seen from the heart’, i.e. the ‘real’ Italy seen through the eyes of a ‘real’ Italian (that’s me!). My friends also know that I am fond of this little, relatively unknown, corner of Italy which is the Province of Pesaro and Urbino (land of Raphael and Gioachino Rossini) – the northern Province of a beautiful region called ‘Marche’ (we say that ‘Marche’ is the whole Italy in just one region).

My idea – and that of Walter, our Food & Wine expert – is that of sharing with you the beauty that this land has to offer, hoping that one day you may decide to stop here, maybe on your way from Rome to Venice, or – even better – you may decide you want to spend your entire holiday in the Marche.

Last Sunday Walter, Costanza and I (our little Costanza is part of WLB team – she even prepared a drawing for my post today!) went on a trip to the Cesane Woods. We found many beautiful villages on the way (among which Mombaroccio and Isola del Piano), beautiful Autumn views on the hills and the valleys, a sanctuary, churches, olive trees, vineyards, farmers’ houses made of brick… we even met a flock of sheep right in the middle of the roadway! Then, finally, our destination: the Agritourism ‘Locanda Girolomoni’ where we enjoyed an Italian organic lunch (zucchini pizza, polenta – maize porridge – with lentils and sausage, home baked bread with sunflower seeds, tiramisu).

No better words than pictures speaking for themselves sometimes.

That’s life, here, in the Marche.

Along the way from Pesaro to Isola del Piano

A tractor at work from the back car window

Landscape with turfs

The bell tower of the Sanctuary of the ‘Blessed Sante’ (Beato Sante) close to Mombaroccio

A view on Mombaroccio

Landscape on the Adriatic Sea

Cesane Woods (a detail)

The entrance to the curch in Fonte Corniale

Fonte Corniale: the church

A cross along the way

Olive trees

A remarkable meeting: a flock of sheep with their ‘motorized’ shepherd

An ‘Ape’ (it means ‘Bee and it’s the famous Italian 3-wheel motorcylce’ by Piaggio)

The Ape is commonly used by farmers (you don’t need any driving licence to drive it)

Isola del Piano

A vineyard close to Isola del Piano

Clouds on the valley

An abandoned farmer’s house

A barn in the valley

‘Girolomoni’ agritourism

The entrance to ‘Locanda Girolomoni’

Organic Italian food

Polenta (maize porridge) with lentils and sausage

That’s me

That’s Walter, our Food & Wine expert

A view from Girolomoni Agritourism

The Republic of San Marino from the Locanda GirolomoniGra

A grasshopper on the windshield

The map of the farm

Another farmer’s houseFrei

Friends on a bench

Costanza made this drawing for my post: that’s me picking flowers in the countryside