You Are Now Entering the Marche

As an advocate of slow travel, I don’t wish the Italian autostrada on anyone. If you drive it, and if you are American, beware the left lane. Cars typically fly past you at 80-100 mph in the left lane. If you’re lollygagging along on that side of the road, the way we do in the US, craning your neck to see the sights, you are a hazard–to yourself and to other drivers. Stay middle or right lane, stay safe, and get back to the backroads as soon as you can.  

That said, if you want to drive backroads in the Marche, you will need a stretch of the A-14.

On this drive you’ll see Gradara Castle and Pesaro. Take the Cattolica, San Giovanni, Gabbice Mare exit from the A-14. Set your navigator for Gradara.

You’ll see the castle up on the hillside, high city walls and towers. Gradara is a sprawling piece of late medieval real estate that the Malatesta and Montefeltro families quarreled over. It may or may not be the site of the famous Paolo and Francesca dalliance, which ended in murder. Recently we visited the fortress in Santarcangelo, which also lays claim to the story. If you tour the Gradara  castle, you will see a bedchamber and a ladder, and hear the story of the lovers’ demise. What’s a castle without a little sexual intrigue and murder?

As you might expect, you’ll find some good places to eat in Gradara. Pull up a coffee bar and have a cappuccino and pastry. Look for Pizzeria da Berto. Or it’s hard to say no to a place called Taverna Paradiso.

Next set your navigator for Covered Parking Marsala, Pesaro. You’ll drive SS16, the via Flaminia, into Pesaro, where you can park and walk and enjoy this city of bicycles, city of music. 

Pesaro has some history. Home to pre-Roman populations of Piceni (9th century BC) and then the Etruscans, the city was founded as a Roman colony in 184 BC. By the time of Augustus, Pisaurum became a city of commerce with up to 20,000 inhabitants. Like Rimini, which is named for the river that the Romans called Ariminum, Pesaro may also be named for the river Pisaurus, though one philologist attributes the name to Greek roots, “”Pisca” [= swamp] and “oros” [= mountain], so Pesaro meant “the city among the swamps in the mountains.” Not a pretty suggestion.

Pesaro’s old city center is pretty. At the north-south/east-west crossing is the old Roman forum, today the Piazza del Popolo. It’s spacious and welcoming. On weeknights and weekends it’s crowded with locals dressed in their finest, out to see and be seen and to socialize. 

City of bicycles. Watch where you walk. The bikes come flying by.

City of music. If you walk toward the sea from Piazza del Popolo, you pass the home of composer Giacchino Rossini. Every year in August Pesaro hosts the Rossini Opera Festival. Not far from his house is the Pesaro Conservatory, founded in 1869, and just beyond that, the Teatro Rossini. 

Across from Rossini’s house is the entrance to Pesaro’s Civic Museum, where you can see Ferruccio Mengaroni’s beautiful and terrifying Medusa. Its eyes supposedly follow you when you move left or right. The gigantic piece, featuring the artist’s own face, fell on the creator and killed him. It’s worth the price of admission, if there were a price. Entrance to the museum is requires a ticket The medusa, however, is fun and it’s free.

Back on the main road, just past Rossini’s house, continuing toward the sea, is Pesaro’s duomo, which is an ordinary Italian miracle. In the church are well preserved mosaic floors from Roman times, one floor dating to 6th century AD, and beneath it, the other, earlier floor, dating back to the 4th-5th century. Drop a euro in the meter and, beneath wide glass panes on the floor, nine panels total, the floors below will light up.  

The waterfront in Pesaro is inviting. From the duomo if you continue toward the sea you arrive at Piazza della Libertà. There’s a fine fountain, in the middle of it a sculpture, the Sfera Grande by a Arnaldo Pomodoro. There’s a boardwalk. Right next to this piazza there is a house that is a work of art, Villino Ruggeri, turn of the century Art Nouveau.

At the table in Pesaro, many wonderful things to try. The mixed seafood antipasto, cold or hot. Pizza Rossini, with tomato, hard boiled egg, and mayonaisse. An after dinner coffee–the Moretta, a fisherman’s coffee originating down the coast in Fano: a cup of espresso with rum, anise, brandy, a little sugar (as if it needed that), and a tiny bit of lemon peel. It fortified fishermen against the cold. After lunch or dinner, it fortifies you for sleep.

For coffee and/or aperitivo:
Alberini. Corso XI Settembre, 119, 61121 Pesaro. Pastries here!
Zanzibar. Largo Aldo Moro, 4, 61121 Pesaro

For lunch or dinner
Moletto. Viale Zara, 75, 61121 Pesaro. 072134880
L’Angelo di Mario. Lungomare Nazario Sauro, 61121 Pesaro. 072165850
Cozza Amara. Str. tra I Due Porti, 19, 61121 Pesaro. 072126706

for Gelato
Centrale, in Piazza del Popolo
Juri. Viale Trieste, 323, 61121 Pesaro