Abruzzo and Le Marche

Our last meal at the farmhouse included clams and mussels while enjoying the sun going down.

Friday morning we were all up early getting ready for our drive back to Rome. It was a little overcast but the clouds were interesting!

And as we were locking up the farmhouse, a cricket on the door wished us a safe voyage home!

We arrived in Rome about 2 pm and dropped Elena and John off at the airport to catch a train into Rome where they will stay for 3 more days. We returned our rental car and checked into our hotel and ordered two stiff drinks to celebrate a successful Italian adventure!

6am shuttle to the airport this morning, Saturday, May 17th and are sipping coffee as we wait for our flight to Detroit and then on to Seattle. We should be back at Mirabella by about 9pm Seattle time.

Thursday, May 15th was a gloriously beautiful day and we decided to try again for San Marino. Elena wasn't feeling well and decided to stay home and rest while Michael, John, and I headed back towards Rimini and then up to San Marino. As most of you know, San Marino is the oldest and continuous independent country in the world and it sits within the Marche region. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino. They estimate that it was first established in 301 AD. It is perched high above on a mountain which clearly allowed to be safe!

Here is a photo of our first view of San Marino from the car and welcome sign a bit further up.

A few photos of the basilica:

And some views as we walked this ancient city/republic:

And a war memorial:

We arrived early and had the opportunity to walk around without a crowd but when about a million Italian school children arrived, we decided it was time for us to leave and stopped for lunch down below before heading back.

For our last evening together, we had picked up 3-4 pounds of small clams and a pound of mussels all for about 17 euros! Michael sauteed them with garlic, white wine, and olive oil and we had a feast eating outside and enjoying our final views of this magnificent country side.

We have been pretty busy morning to evening while in Le Marche and I am falling behind with my blogging so hopefully, I can now catch up. I will combine descriptions of our return visit to Fano on May 12th, to Pesaro and back to Cartoceto on May 13th, and today, a visit to Urbino after a failed attempt to get to San Marino!

On Monday, May 12th, we headed back to Fano to see it without the crowded market that we visited on Saturday. It was impossible to really see the piazza or much of this city of 60,000 residents because I think almost all of them were at the market at the same time! Fano is an ancient Roman town with an Arch of Augustus as you enter into the historical center. Here are a few photos of the arch and of Caesar Augustus!

A few photos of the piazza with the fountain statue of Fortuna as well as a few Fano streets.

We had a nice lunch in Fano before heading home to be there to greet Monica who prepared our birthday dinner for Elena.

On Tuesday, May 13th, Elena wasn't feeling well and decided to stay at the farmhouse and relax, take a nap, and finish reading her book. Meanwhile, Michael, John and I headed to Pesaro which is another city on the Adriatic about 15-20 minutes north of Fano. It is a much newer city of about 80,000 residents and the birth place of Rossini. https://www.wonderfulmarche.com/pesaro-italy/. We parked and walked along the waterfront for a while until we came to a large bronze globe that I remembered seeing during our 2006 visit. Here is a picture of the globe and some of the beautiful turn of the century homes that line the streets leading to the water! https://italiannotes.com/the-golden-sphere-monument-in-pesaro/

https://www.comune.pesaro.pu.it/cultura/da-vedere/luoghi-da-vedere/altro-da-vedere/altri-luoghi/sfera-grande/

We walked by Rossini's birth place and also saw signs for the Rossini Opera Festival:

And also noted in the central piazza that Pesaro was selected as the 2024 City of Culture in Italy which was proudly displayed!

Interestingly, we looked for a lunch place near the piazza but only found bars and cafes. As we walked back towards the water, we finally found a small piadini sandwich place where we ate and had it confirmed that all of the restaurants are found along the water.

After lunch we returned to the car and decided to make a return stop in Cartoceto and see if we could find a place to buy some Cartoceto olive oil for which the "city" is known for. There is one bar in Cartoceto and I decided to go in and ask if there was a nearby place to purchase Cartoceto olive oil. I started with the bar owner who had no English but a woman on the deck heard me and asked if she could help. I repeated my question about purchasing Cartoceto olive oil and she said that she has some in her shop a sort distance from the bar. She accompanied us to her shop which had olive oil, cheeses, cured meats,wine, and honey for sale! We were able to purchase what we wanted and chatted about my grandfather who was born in Cartoceto. It was just another magical moment in Italy when the stars align! A few photos of Christina Beltrami and her son, dog, and Cartoceto!

Yesterday, Wednesday, May 14th we started out by about 9:15am heading towards San Marino which is about 90 minutes from here. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived at the exit near Rimini to head north to San Marino, the exits both ways were backed up significantly and no one was moving. We ended up turning around and visiting Urbino instead. A little extra driving but reaching Urbino was only about 30 minutes from our "home".

Just a few photos of Urbino streets and the Duomo. In 2006, Michael and I spent an entire day in Urbino visiting the palace and museum but this time, we just wandered the streets a bit, found a place for lunch and headed home.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Le Marche and we may try to make it to San Marino again today. Friday morning, we pack up, drive back to Rome, and fly home on Saturday, May 17th arriving back in Seattle around 8pm.

Last night we had a delightful home catered dinner at our farmhouse prepared by Monica, a local woman who has a catering business. She arrived promptly around 5:30pm and we all introduced ourselves. She has very little English and our collective Italian wasn't much better however, she had google translate that helped quite a bit. One fun fact is that she is going to visit NYC next year with a friend for her first visit to the U.S. Here are a couple photos of Monica as she began her work!

Our menu began with an apperitivi of foccacia (2 kinds), pecorino, two types of local salami, stuffed eggplant, tomato, and artichokes, and a platter of bruscetta with her home grown tomatoes! Forgot to take a photo of the vegetables, but here is the cheese and salami platter:

The primi was homemade ravioli in a marinara sauce that we each ate about half of to save room for the rest of the meal!

Secondi was a insalata mista (which I forgot to photograph) and rabbit cacciatore. Here is a photo of Monica plating the cacciatore and then our plated dish.

Our dulce was semifreddo that made a nice ending for an amazing home cooked birthday dinner:

Of course, there was much wine flowing freely so here are a few photos of the dinner party enjoying themselves dining outside on the patio as the sun went down,

We have been enjoying our stay at Ca' Stefioli and I know that I posted a number of photos of this renovated farmhouse with its spectacular views when we first arrived. What I didn't notice until yesterday, were three framed photographs of the farmhouse presumably when they bought and restored it. I want to capture this before and after transformation in a short blog!

Here are the three photos of the farmhouse prior to renovations!

Talk about a fixer-upper and a labor of love!

Here is the VRBO front of the house view again as well as some of our own photos of the place when we arrived!