From Amandola there are many daytrip possibilities: art & historical towns, family-run businesses, enchanting perched villages & the Sibillini Mountains…
The Marche à la carte
A menu of places to see in the
Southern Marche:
“The Territory of the Sibyl”
Appetizers (a general approach to the southern Marche)
- Introduction to the cultural heritage of the Sibillini mountains: between legend, faith and modernity. Visit to the villages of Monte Fortino, Monte Monaco and Amandola, as well as to the Church of the Madonna dell’Ambro
- Piceno antiquities: how our ancestors lived prior to the Romans. Visit to the archaeological museum of Ascoli Piceno
- Roman antiquities: visit to the sites of the Roman cities of Urbs Salvia (cisterns, amphitheatre and the base of a temple) and of Falerio Piceno (Roman theatre and the remains of the city)
- The Middle Ages: the legacy of the scribe monks. Visit the city library in Ascoli Piceno to see their handwritten books prior to the advent of printing
- Contemporary history: the 1900s with the two world wars, the end of sharecropping and the economic boom. Visit the village of Servigliano with its prisoner-of-war/concentration camp, the town of Montappone with its hat museum and Sant’Elpidio a Mare with its shoe museum
First Course (in-depth visits of local villages)
- Amandola: urban trekking and a visit to the Anthropogeographic museum of the Sibillini National Park – the men and animals that have inhabited and still inhabit this mountain territory
- Monte San Martino: urban trekking and a visit to the churches with their masterpieces of art of the 1400s (works by Crivelli and Pagani)
- Penna San Giovanni: urban trekking and a visit to the theatre with its hand-painted wood and to the art collection Giambattista Bravi
- Offida: urban trekking, during which you will see women still doing bobbin lace and a visit to the churches with works by Alemanno and DeMagistris as well as a visit to the museum of popular traditions which include an exhibit of their famous bobbin lace
- Montefiore dell’Aso: urban trekking and a visit to the museum of San Francesco with a beautiful polyptych by Carlo Crivelli
Main Course (in-depth analysis of the territory and its towns)
- Excursions of the Upper Tenna Valley (several itineraries to choose from)
- Excursions in the Sibillini National Park with a mountain guide
- Visit the fossil museums of Smerillo and Montefalcone, walking between the two towns on a forest path
- Visit the city of Macerata: the Sferisterio arena, the chapel of the Madonna della Misericordia, the Bonaccorsi Palace with its famous frescoes in the Eneide gallery and the Carriage Museum
- Borgo Ficana: homes once built of soil by the poor farmers, located in the Santa Croce district of Macerata
- Visit to the city of Ascoli Piceno: the Papal Paper Museum, the Cathedral of Sant’Emidio, Arringo Square with its civic art museum, the People’s Square with the Capitani Palace and the turn-of-the-century, art nouveau Meletti Coffee House
- Visit to the city of Fermo: the Roman cisterns below the People’s Square, the cathedral and the diocesan museum, the Prior’s Palace and the collections of Villa Vitali
Side Dishes (discover the Marche through the eyes of…………)
- ……..an enthusiast of the legends of the Sibillini – Basilio Millozzi presents “Her Majesty the Sibyl”
- ……..a landscape photographer – Giorgio Tassi takes us to the places which inspired his photos
- ……..a ceramics artist – Paolo Nannini shows us his works and those of his university students
Cheese and Desserts (local, family-run businesses welcome us)
- Pasqualino lets us taste the wines of Ciù Ciù Winery
- Paola and Marino serve us sheep’s milk cheese
- Eros and Irma have us taste their goat’s milk cheese
- Roberto, Monia and Paolo have us taste their yogurt, voted #1 in the Marche
- Marco and Chiara let us taste their honey and smell their lavender and essential oils
- Massimo has us taste his pink apple jam of the Sibillini
- Giuliano lets us savour his vino cotto accompanied by cantucci
Note
We hope to have whetted your appetite and hope to see you during our best seasons: springtime with the flowering of the Pian Grande of Castelluccio and autumn with the harvest and chestnut festivals. In this imaginative menu we have tried to put together proposals for all tastes, for all ages and for all budgets.
