Greetings to everyone I haven't "seen" in awhile. For the last couple of weeks I have begun to plan a trip to Le Marche in June -- for Bruce and myself and our two friends who live in the UK and will be meeting as there. Tentatively we're going to spend one week in the northern part of the province and one week in the southern part. I thought I would post my short list of places that we might rent and ask you guys to comment. OK?

But first, I should tell you what activities we are interested in. We will definitely be doing some hiking -- thus the desire to spend one week near the Monti Sibillini. Like so many in the Slow Travel community, our tendency is to get up every day in our vacation rental, get in the car and go somewhere to explore, so we want to be in places that have good access to towns with lots of cultural interest (in the north, for instance -- Urbino, San Leo, Cagli, Urbania).

Here's the short list for possibilities in the southern part of the province - three independent houses:

Casa Martelli
Casa Pucci
Il Sambuco

and one agriturismo:

Le Castellare

Here's the short list for the northern part of the province -- it includes one detached farmhouse:

http://www.le-marche.com/suzie/index.htm

two apartments in larger villas:

Casa Rafaella specifically, Castagni,
Torre del Sasso

and two agriturismi:

Fosso del Lupo - either Flat Piccolo or Grande
Dai Mori

In the past we've always stayed in independent houses. I thought we might break that pattern this time and stay at an agriturismo or in an apartment with other people around.

One thing that I'm concerned about is that we will be in the mountains for both weeks -- granted, different mountains -- but I'm not sure how much scenic variation there will be, never having been there. Of course, once you get in the car and start driving around, there is plenty of scenic variation...

I'd love to hear any comments. Thanks in advance.

Topping this, just in case anyone's interested in having a look and telling me what you think. Thanks.

we went to le Marche last June.. loved it!
Spent the night in San Leo.. WOW.

of the ones you have chosen I like
Dai Mori and Torre del Sasso. both seem warm looking and near a village where you can hang out!
Easy to get to..
we also ventured into Senigallia to eat at la Madoninna del Pescatore.. where Moreno Cedroni is the chef.. he is the president of the young chef's association and the food and service was incredible!

Thanks, Judy. Glad you enjoyed it. I'm really looking forward to going.

Dean really liked staying at Torre del Sasso, but my group and I are probably more interested in staying in an independent farmhouse. I like the one that I've found -- http://www.le-marche.com/suzie/index.htm -- I'm just not sure about the location. It's "on the other side" of Urbino. The owner told me that it's 25 minutes to Urbino, 1 hour 15 to Cagli, 50 minutes to San Leo....

If anyone has any input. Do you agree that that farmhouse is lovely? Thanks.

here is info on the nearby village..looks lovely
So does the farmhouse.. farther north than I thought but good for touring the area..
we stopped by the northern part on the way as we were heading to the beach!!!

PAtron saints day on the area in English!
with a great foto of the FOSSE where they age the fabulous percorino's!

Another great site

David,
How are your plans coming along?
I don't know the area you're considering, but my two cents about the properties:


Casa Martelli only has one interior photo on the site which makes me wonder about the rest of the house. And while the pool and patio areas look good, what about the views? Also, did you notice the bed situation - all singles + a bunk bed!

I like Il Sambucco better than Casa Pucci, but there aren't any photos of its kitchen. It sounds lovely: "The kitchen opens out to a terrace and to the garden and wonderful views of the Sibillini Mountains."

I really like the looks of this place! It doesn't look close enough to the village to walk to, though, if that's a consideration for you.

Thanks again, Judy, for digging around a little bit, and Colleen, for your input.

I did a little bit more digging myself and found this! Much better pictures of Casa Pucci, don't you agree?

I finally got around talking to Bruce as well as our friends Cully and Kathy, who will be joining us, and they all feel that they want to rent independent houses in the country -- not connected with anything else (an agriturismo, B&B, etc.). So that certainly narrowed the field. Il Sambuco is very nice but it's an apartment at a B&B. I'm still not quite clear about the set up. Liliana, who owns it, was very sweet, but perhaps I didn't articulate my question clearly enough regarding whether it was an independent property. From what she said and its description, it sounds like it is either part of the same structure or on the same grounds as the B&B.

So we're going to go for Casa Pucci and the Black/Whelan house -- the property that you both thought was beautiful and about whose whereabouts Judy Diva did a little bit of research. The weekly rental prices of both these houses is extremely reasonable. The same properties in Tuscany would easily be double the price, if not more. I'm excited.

I did a little bit more reading today about the area northeast of Urbino. There are a few attractions up that way. Some are off the beaten track and there are a couple of others near the coast that get plenty of tourists -- Gradara and the Villa Imperiale. Also the drive up the coast north of Pesaro is supposed to be beautiful. From this house, we'll also have easy access to Pesaro. Now I need to look on Bill T's site to see if he has any interesting observations about the area.

So, all in all, not bad.

I went to Gradara.. home to Paolo and Francesca of Dante fame.. nice little village.. nothing really to see, but nice. had a lvoely piadina made by the nice man right when you walk in on the right!

When I am home this weekend.. will try to put together a little info on where I went!
We really enjoyed the Passa del Furla(??)
just the scenery is incredible!!! San Leo was also lovely.. built up on the hills.. I think I posted some foto's on the ST site..

Bill

(first stub towards a Gazetteer of the Marche)

Bill:

Thanks for the headoff attempt, but you shouldn't have . Actually I was tooling around your site last night and discovered as much. But we still intend to do a bit of exploring down towards the Via Flaminina (I think that's the correct via, off the top of my head....) so your observations and musings might very well come in handy. Fun to read, either way. Thanks.