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Abruzzo? La Marche? October by train from Rome

We are planning to spend about two months in Italy starting in October. The ideal vision is to stay a couple of days in Rome (if we can find a place under $350 a night!), then take a train to either Abruzzo or La Marche for three weeks, then train to Perugia for another three weeks.

  1. Ideas for a Rome stay? We know it's last minute and tourist season is now all year, but we're planning around a family event. We love Testacchio and the Ghetto. Trastevere is great if it's on a quiet street. Hotel or B&B or apt is fine. (BTW: Our favorite hotel is Smeraldo, but it's booked already.)

  2. If not Rome, is there a place on the train line between Rome and Abruzzo or La Marche you can recommend? We love train travel!

  3. Recommendations for towns in Abruzzo or La Marche? If so, does anyone have recommendations for an apartment?

  4. Same question for Perugia.

We really want to settle in and get to know communities where expats live. Thoughts? Thanks.

Posted by
2258 posts

Actually, you can train to Pesaro but then must take the bus to Urbino. Easy and absolutely worth it! Urbino was the place my husband and I went for two weeks on our very first trip to Europe in 1999. We returned there a couple of times after. Love it!

I've not been to Abruzzo but check out the blog at MichelleDamiano.com. The way she talks about Sulmona makes me want to go there immediately.

Posted by
3157 posts

Actually, you can train to Pesaro but then must take the bus to Urbino.

I see that now. The journey involves two transfers with a second connection on the URB28 bus that takes another hour. You’ll spend most of the day getting there.

Posted by
4839 posts

The coast of Marche has a train line you can zip along, but in the interior, it is going to be much slower and involve bus travel.
Some say the interior is the superior destination, but along the coast you have Senigallia, a true gem. I had an airbnb there that was fantastic: "Amazing new Loft in the city center."
Bradt and Blue Guide cover the area well--you'll need to identify a zone in which you have the most interest and can use public transport.

Posted by
371 posts

Somewhere on the coast in Le Marche might suit you, easy to travel by train along the coast, more complictaed, but worth it, to visit places inland like Urbino
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2019/09/day-1-arrival-in-urbino.html
But also Jesi, Osimo, Loreto, lots of hillside villages. The area around the Conero is also nice - Numana, Sirolo. I don't think you'll find a particularly high concentration of expats, maybe some one else knows more on that.

Posted by
550 posts

We have stayed at Hotel Villa San Pio our last two times. It is in Aventino, right next to Testacchio, walkable for dinner at night. They are part of the Aventino group who have a few hotels there. It is lovely and quiet.

Posted by
140 posts

Aventino is supposed to be great. I’d love to stay in an apartment there!

Posted by
15902 posts

If you don’t have a car, you are limited in your ability to move around. If you like trains you need to be along the coast of those two regions. Also in October you probably need to be in a larger town, as small resort towns will be kind of dead. Ancona, Pesaro, Senigallia, San Benedetto del Tronto are good choices. In Abruzzo frankly I would have a car unless you want to be in Pescara which has connections to many towns by bus.

As far as expats are concerned, I don’t know why you would want to travel to Marche or Abruzzo to meet other Americans. In my experience the best place to meet lots of Americans is to stay in the United States. There are a lot of Americans in the US. In Italy Florence and Rome have lots of Americans living and studying (and of course visiting), but you will find virtually zero in the Marche or Abruzzo, and even less in Molise, the region that doesn’t exist..

PS: Testaccio is spelled without “h”, otherwise it would be pronounced “Testakkio”.

Posted by
1227 posts

For La Marche the book "The Marche" by the Touring Club of Italy is a comprehensive guide to the region. It's more than 15 years old now but the towns don't change that much ;-) We found it helpful planning our trip a few years ago.

Posted by
1081 posts

Sulmona has a train station and it's an easy trip from Rome. However, once there, Roberto is right that you'd be better off with a car to move around Abruzzo. Ortona is another pretty medium-sized town. It has a train station, but it's at the bottom of the hill that the town sits on so it's a hike up and down to use it daily. There's an easy coach but to and from Rome that stops in Ortona's city centre. Abruzzo's public transit has extensive bus routes but limited schedules - usually tied to school and work hours. Doing without a car is an unnecessary challenge as the roads are extensive, well-maintained and lighter traffic than most other places in Italy (exception: Pescara/Francavilla area) Pescara does have a train station on the fast train line up and down the coast, with trains from Bari to Milan passing through hourly. It's a pleasant but not historic city (flattened during the war.)

Obviously I love Abruzzo but would not do it without a car.