Has anyone traveled to Sirolo, Urbino or Ancona? We're interested in exploring this region of Italy and wondered if anyone has traveled here...if so, any recommendations? Is it do-able using public transportation? Thanks!
Posted by
Florence
362 posts
Sharon I have been visiting this site for years while never actually making to the region yet:
I don't know if everything is up to date but there is a ton of info there - I think the area has become fairly popular with British expats and vacation home owners due to the regional airport and the low cost euro carriers.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
A friend of mine wrote an article recently for the NYT Travel section on Urbino and Le Marche. Check it out:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/travel/21cultured.html
Specific to your question, he writes:
If you’ve got a car, really the only way to tour the region, you’ll want to make long, leisurely loops through the satellite towns and supremely beautiful countryside that Federico controlled. We started with Urbania, 10 miles from Urbino on a literally breathtaking road of hairpin turns and drop-dead views.
Posted by
Portland
3603 posts
On our visit to Le Marche, we based ourselves in a b&b (found on www.karenbrown.com) near Sirolo. We chose that location because it's on the A14 and equidistant from the places we wanted to visit. We loved Urbino, a small, bustling university city. The Palazzo Ducale is a work of art, which also houses an art collection. Several other buildings are worth seeing, and there's good food in the restaurants. We also liked Ascoli Piceno very much. One other must-see is the Frasassi Caves. There are tours in English. I can't remember if we were able to get the times or just went. The Touring Club of Italy publishes a guidebook, "The Marche," in English, which I got from Amazon. You can pm me if you want more specifics.
Posted by
Los Angeles, CA, USA
1449 posts
visited there and used Urbino as a base. We also used the book suggested by Rosalyn, and its a good source. RS doesn't cover the Marche, but some other english-language guide books do. English is less common in many of the towns, so learning a bit of italian (how to say you'd like to buy something, to order in restaurants, etc) would be a good idea. Ancona is a bit of a large town, but Pesaro and towns like it we found very pleasant. Pesaro, for example, has a long section of pedestrian-only shopping and restaurants. You can travel along the coast by train, but that's about it. There is public transit in the area by buses, but its probably going to be difficult to use unless you're proficient in italian.