Holiday Rental, Le Marche, Italy.

Large Period farmhouse for holiday lettings with stunning views.

This farmhouse for rent in unspoiled Le Marche countryside is ideal for summer holidays. Handy for the mountains or the sea. Sleeps 14 plus baby.

Introduction

Le Marche is a beautiful but little-known, central Italian region. Bounded on the East by the Adriatic, and on the West by the watershed of the Appenines, Le Marche is a mountainous region of small farms and ancient hilltop villages. Less dry than Umbria and Tuscany to the West, it has been able to keep its productive small-holdings and thriving villages as well as its famous trees: oaks on the foothills and sweet chestnuts high in the mountains. Although it lacks the concentration of art treasures found in Tuscany, it also lacks the level of tourism: once off the beaten track, tourists are almost unknown.

Casa Saccocciò’ is tucked under a small hilltop town called Monteleone di Fermo, which has a general store (sells everything) and a tip top restaurant/pizzeria with one of the best views in Italy. It is at the end of a kilometre of rough private track, nestled in fields planted with, variously, sunflowers, wheat or forage and dotted with olive trees. Across the valley, you look out to two other hilltop towns and the view is (barring one white warehouse) straight out of a renaissance painting. Around the house is mown grass and just above it is a beautiful swimming pool.

The farmhouse is built of brick and simply restored with original terracotta floors and beamed ceilings. The ground floor was once used for stables but there is now an enormous kitchen, a sitting room, a hallway and a downstairs loo and shower room. The kitchen is well equipped for those who enjoy cooking from scratch for lots of people but who eschew gadgets such as the microwave. There is a washing machine but no dishwasher.

The house sleeps 14 plus baby. Upstairs, there are 4 double bedrooms and two triples. Two rooms have twin beds and the others have doubles. There is a large home-made bamboo cot in one of the double rooms. There are two shower rooms and one additional loo.

The house is very simply furnished with only the essentials for a summer holiday. Each bedroom has either a chest of drawers or a wardrobe and beds and a couple of chairs. There are no internal doors, but curtains instead as this allows air to flow freely in the hot summer nights. Some people might find the décor a bit minimalist or shabby. We find it liberating. Please remember that it is a family house and not one which has been done up for rental. There is no TV or land telephone line.

The pool is not heated and is only open for the summer months.

The Sea:

The sea is about 25 miles on a good road. There are sandy beaches at Porto San Giorgio and San Benedetto del Tronto or our current favourite, the more intimate Cupra Marittima. Italian resorts with deck chairs and umbrellas for hire; sandy beaches, shallow water, fish restaurants and gelateria, swings and slides. .
We often go to Porto San Giorgio, where we rent an umbrella in the strip of beach more or less at the latitude of the Station. There is an excellent restaurant there called Il Quadrifoglio. On a busy day, be prepared to wait. Otherwise, just south of the Quadrifoglio, there is a really good tavola calda, which is a sort of a cafeteria, although the word cafeteria might give you the wrong idea.

Lake :

Lago di Gerosa (not strictly legal but beautiful and clean),
Past Comunanza on the road towards Montemonaco; lake is on your right.
Lago di Fiastra is WNW of Sarnano. It is a glorious aquamarine lake in the mountains, wonderful if you love to swim; not great on comfort and shade, but you will find some. There is one town up there where you can get lunch, otherwise bring a picnic.

Caves:

The Grotte di Frasassi are spectacular. Signposted off the motorway near Ancona: leaflet in house.

Walking:

Nearby are many small roads. For the less adventurous, these are very beautiful but not too challenging.. In the Sibillini mountains (a National Park), there are all types of tracks - some marked, mostly not - which are almost totally unused except by shepherds. The wild flowers are at their best in May-July, and the trees are spectacular in October/November.

There are some good maps in the house. One excellent walk for a hot day is to drive up to the Gola dell’Infernaccio SW of Amandola. You walk along a gorge. Don’t do it on a w/e or holiday as it is popular with the locals.

If you are feeling adventurous, you really mustn’t miss a walk on the Piano Grande, high in the Sibillini mountains W. of Ascoli Piceno. Visit Castelluccio, a mountain village many miles away from any other habitations and consequently atmospheric. The famous lentils of Castelluccio are grown on the plain, cultivated in strips to give the landscape an ancient feel. The wild (and lentil) flowers are really lovely.

Villages/towns:

Practically any village on the map is worth a visit - they are nearly all on hill tops and have fine churches and fabulous views. There is often a playground and a bar at the top of the hill, at the Belvedere (viewing point).. Servigliano is our local larger town and we do all main shopping there. You can get everything without going into a supermarket (though there are two). It is a really nice place to shop and is a very pretty 18th century town built to a design by Pope Pius the ? who came from there.

Larger Towns:

Ascoli Piceno:( 45 mins) Very beautiful, marble-floored Piazza del Popolo. Peasant market in cloisters of S. Francesco on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Municipal art gallery. Roman bridge. Roman/Medieval Town.
Fermo: Roman and Medieval Town. Don’t miss it.
Ancona: Good monuments and fantastic situation (the only Seaside town in Italy from which you can see the sun rise and set!) Interesting for 2nd World War historians: war damage still visible.
Loreto: allegedly the house of the Virgin is contained within this 18th century basilica of enormous religious importance.

Urbino: (2 hours)
Assisi: (2 ½ hours)
Perugia, Spello, Spoleto, Bevagna, Monfalco (2 ½ - 3 hours)

Food:

Many restaurants, normally with a small selection of local dishes - very simple but very good; the emphasis is on fresh and seasonal ingredients. Local specialities include: Olive Ascolane - stuffed olives; Salsiccia di fegato - liver salami; Porchetta - slices of whole roast, stuffed suckling pig bought from travelling vans or from the market; pecorino - sheep’s cheese. The Pizzeria La Torre in Monteleone is unmissable. If you go at lunchtime and give the chef (Giovanni) free rein he will give you an unforgettable experience. Don’t expect any course to be the last till you get to coffee! In the evenings, he is more geared towards pizza.

Art/Architecture/History

We are not in Tuscany here (thank God). The Marche boasts (and how) one famous early renaissance painter called Crivelli. Some of his more important works are housed in the Pinacoteca (art gallery) in Ascoli Piceno. Two of the best paintings are to be found in a nearby village, Monte San Martino. The church there is only open at certain times: it is well worth checking out when these are (posted on the door) and going to see said pictures. If you arrive and it’s closed you can ask around and someone might open it for you. Montefalcone has a great fossil museum and also a wonderful tryptich by Alemanno. Montemonaco has a surprisingly interesting art gallery. For more info, look at the brochures in the house.

The Abbazia at Fiastra is well worth a visit – on the SS78 north of Sarnano.
The Castello di Rancia is on the SS 77 between Macerata and Tolentino. Good for medieval atmosphere.
The Roman amphitheatre at Urbisaglia (Urbs Salvia) is good for Roman atmosphere. On the SS. 78 N. of Sarnano.

Practicalities

Be warned: often, the best laid plans are thwarted by closure. Opening times are at the whim of the owners and this is one of the costs of the Marche not being very commercialised/tourist-aware.
Opening hours of shops: Summer: 8.30 till 1.00; 4.00 till 7.30 or 8.00. Winter lunch time closure tends to be shorter and evening closure earlier. Banks tend to be open only in mornings, but there are automatic dispensers everywhere

Water: the water from the taps is delicious to drink.