Sumptuous halls, elegant renaissance furnishings; ancient walls adorned with ancient frescoes; a draw bridge; banqueting hall; even a torture chamber: Gradara Castle, on the wood covered hillside of Marche, just kilometers from Rimini and the Adriatic sea, has just about everything the perfect medieval castle should have. This is where the ill fated love affair of Paolo Malatesta and Francesca Da Polenta was consumed (immortalized shortly after its bloody conclusion in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy).
Pesaro, on the Marche's northern coast, is an excellent holiday destination: offering a winning combination of sandy beaches, history, and art. Moto GP fans might already know that Pesaro is where Valentino Rossi, 9 times world champion, was born. The historic center of Pesaro, located not far from the beach, is best visited on foot or by bike, with frequent stops to admire the theatres, churches, and patrician town houses built in the city in various periods of history. Pesaro's Center of Visual Arts is housed in an early 19th century construction which original served as fish market. Palazzo Ducale in Piazza del Popolo is one of the most impressive of the city's buildings. Decidedly less grand but not for this less worthy of visit, the house of the Pesaro-born composer Gioacchino Rossini (author of such important operas as the Barber of Seville) has been transformed in interesting museum.
Fano, like Pesaro, unites its vocation as seaside resort and shipping port with ancient historical and cultural traditions such as the Fano carnival, believed to be the oldest in Italy. Without doubt it was Fano's strategic geographical position which fuelled its continual development and expansion. The town was founded by the ancient Romans, as testified by the presence of the Flaminia consular road, and the Arch of Augustus - gateway which forms the entrance to the historic center (where the Antiques Market of Fano is held every second weekend of the month).
Castle fans and devotees of all things medieval will love Fossombrone, nestled in the valley of Metauro, just a few kilometers from the city of Urbino, and home to both an impressive fortress and the ruins of the Malatestiana castle.
In Urbino every stone, in every road, piazza and palazzo tells a tale of the history and art of this beautiful city, declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2006. The renaissance was, without doubt, Urbino's period of greatest glory, when it was patronized by painters the likes of Bramante, Paolo Uccello, and Piero della Francesca, and when all the city's most impressive edifices were constructed, including the wonderfully elegant Palazzo Ducale which now houses the National Gallery of the Marche. Other noteworthy edifices include the house where Raffaello Sanzio (better known as Raphael) was born, and the mausoleum built for the Dukes of Montefeltro.
This journey through the Marche draws to a suitably spectacular close in San Leo. This town, not far from Rimini and the Republic of San Marino, is one of the Marche's most popular tourist attractions, famous for its fortress, built right on the very tip of an immense spur of rock and from where a magnificent view over the valley of Marecchia can be seen. One of the castle's most notorious inhabitants was the alchemist Count Cagliostro, who died in the castle dungeons after having been condemned to life imprisonment for heresy by the inquisition.
