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ITALIAN
JOURNEYS |
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The Marches
is a secret paradise because of its geological terrain TOURS |
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2009
The Secret Heart of Italy - The Marche (itinerary 2) June 7 - 13 2009 |
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2009
Insiders' Venice Eighteenth Century Venice (itinerary 2) Oct 11 - 16 2009 |
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| A legacy of the Medieval past is an abundance of hill-top cities, encircled by defensive walls, with commanding views and monumental historic centres | |||||||||||
| "here all the cities are capitals and have not that provincial tone of secondary cities of other kingdoms". Byron |
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| There are no books in English specifically on the history of the Italian Marches, although there is a new Guide to the Marche and San Marino by Ellen Grady | |||||||||||
SECRET ITALY
The Heart of the Marches
Itinerary 2 June 7 – 13 2009
After the success of the 2007 tour in the Marche, this offers a completely different itinerary, equally full of wonderful works of art, countryside, food and wine and will again be accompanied by the renowned Art Historian, Dr. Stella Rudolph. Tour manager John Hall.
THIS TOUR concentrates on parts of the province of Macerata and Ancona. It shows an authentic sample of the qualities of the area, scenically, historically, artistically and gastronomically.
The tour is based in Macerata, capital of the province, a city of Renaissance and Baroque palaces, loggias and churches, seat of a university founded in 1290 and home of the international summer opera festival in the neo-classical Sferisterio open-air theatre. . We visit Ancona, a seaport of Greek origin, dominated by the Romanesque cathedral of S.Cyriaco. The pinacoteca has masterpieces by Titian, Carlo Crivelli and Lorenzo Lotto. We will see more works by Lorenzo Lotto in Jesi, birthplace of the Hohenstauffen Emperor Frederick II - Stupor Mundi- at Cingoli the “ balcony of the Marches “ and at Mogliano. Our itinerary includes the historic cities of Fabriano, Matelica and Osimo, the fascinating 18th century Giardini Buonaccorsi and the stupendous Grotte di Frassai, the largest cave system in Europe, one cavern of which could contain Milan cathedral !
A definitive itinerary will be sent to participants two months before the tour begins.
The tour is based in the Hotel Claudiani, Macerata.
THE MARCHE - BACKGROUND
GEOGRAPHY
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The Marches is a secret paradise because of its geological terrain. Going up or down a valley from Apennines to Adriatic is easy. Going across the grain, following twisting roads up steep valleysides to high hilltop towns is difficult. A result is an unspoilt world in something of a time warp. “That land of mysterious interest to me, since I have been told that Cook and his tourists had not found their way there”, wrote Margaret Collier (Our Home by the Adriatic 1866). In spite of Ryanair and talk of the new Chiantishire, the area is still difficult to penetrate.
Above: Marche countryside and Lago di Fiastra
The Marches is a rectangle bordered on the East by the Adriatic, from Pesaro in the North to Benedetto del Tronto in the South, with the ancient Greek port of Ancona, the regional capital, half way down. Inland, the Apennines border on Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio and the Abruzzo to the South. It is a region of spectacularly varied scenery, sloping Eastwards from the high Apennines through green hills to the sea, a countryside of small farms, vineyards, the region of the Verdicchio, Rosso Conero and Rosso Piceno wines.
Donated to the Papacy by the Carolingians after their defeat of the Lombards, the Marche was the heartland of the Papal State, in continual conflict with the claims of the Ottonian and later German emperors who gave it its plural name - the Marches - referring to its several geographically and politically separate frontier marchesates: the March of Ancona, the March of Fermo, the March of Camerino. A legacy of the Medieval past is an abundance of hill-top cities, encircled by defensive walls, with commanding views and monumental historic centres : in Byron’s words, here all the cities are capitals and have not that provincial tone of secondary cities of other kingdoms.
With its Papal and Imperial connections, it was a region of steady, perhaps even competitive patronage: it is rich in Benedictine abbeys, well-endowed churches and monasteries and works of art. A particular joy of the area is to be able to look at works of art in churches and galleries in small cities where it is unlikely that there will be any other visitors. As well as works by painters of the local schools of Sanseverino, Camerino, Fabriano there is a strong Venetian presence. Carlo and Vettore Crivelli lived in the Marche as did Lorenzo Lotto.
Above: Annunciation by Lorenzo Lotto
Left: Basilica di San Nicola at Tolentino
Geography and benevolent pontifical lethargy preserved the status quo more or less into the 20th century With the end of the mezzadria system of agriculture in the 1960s, traditional skills re-invented themselves in modern form. Today the region prospers with small-scale artisan industries, as the proliferation of artisan industrial estates alongside the valley roads indicates. In our central province of Macerata, the focus is on every permutation of animal skins, from fur coats to Tod and Prada shoes. In Tolentino, Poltrona Frau supplies the leather upholstery for Porsches, private yachts and jets, Nazzareno Gabriele has shops for handbags on Fifth Avenue and Bond Street: and you can still find an artisan who will buy the skin of a shot fox. And wine:- throughout the region there are new wineries and updated and innovative established ones, producing quality wines.
