Discovering Piceno area

1st day: San Benedetto del Tronto

Departure from the respective towns towards San Benedetto del Tronto.

Once you get off in San Benedetto del Tronto, the tour leader'll welcome you and then we will reach the hotel with a private transfer.

You have some avaiable time to settle your baggages and then we will do a first orientation walking tour of the town.

We start the tour from the lungomare (sea front) where we can admire many villas in liberty style and the monuments "lavorare, lavorare preferisco il rumore del mare". Walking on the sea front we'll reach the historic Viale Secondo Moretti) where you can take an italian coffe.

After that we'll reach the historic city center where we'll see the Gualtieri Tower (Torrione). It's an old observatory dating back to the 12th–13th century, 20 metres (66 ft) tall that provides a complete view of the city.

Dinner and overnight in hotel.

2nd day: Acquaviva Picena - Offida

During the day we'll visit two villages in the Marche hinterland: Acquaviva Picena and Offida.

In Acquaviva we will take a tour through the alley of the historic center until we reach the majestic fortress that rises imposingly over the village. We'll visit it and the guide'll show you the history of this fortress.

Typical lunch in Acquaviva with local products (pappardelle with duck ragu, rabbit, local cheese and Rosso Piceno Superiore wine).

After lunch we'll move to the rural area of the town to visit a farmhouse where a licensed guide will explain us how was life in the post-war years and how much agriculture has been important for the developpement of this area.

The farmhouse faithfully reproduces the environments of thah time to make us relive those situations.

After the visit we will move to Offida: the town of carnival, bobbin lace, funghetti (sweet mushrooms) and “Pecorino” (white) wine.

Before starting the visit of the village you will see the "lacemakers" who wisely weave these threads to create splendid laces. If you want you can buy some hand made products.

We will then take a tour in the streets of the historic center.

At the end of the day you will taste wins with typical local products such as: ascolane olives, chicchi ripieno (a typical pizza ), ciauscolo and local salami.

We will taste 5 wine references (the most representative of the territory): Altamarea passerina spumante, Evoe passerina, Merlettaie pecorino DOCG, Bacchus Rosso Piceno, Gotico Rosso Piceno Superiore. At the end if you want you can buy wine and oils.

Dinner and overnight in hotel.

3rd day: Ascoli Piceno

Full day in Ascoli Piceno.

Ascoli is the city of the "Hundred Towers", but also the city with the most beautiful travertine square in Italy: Piazza del Popolo. In ascoli we'll met a local guide who'll lead us in a fantastic tour.

Piazza del Popolo is the hart of the town where you can see the historic Art Nouveau café Meletti, established in 1907.

During the visit we will walk through the Ascoli "ruette" (paths) that tell us the history of this city and reveal its glorious past. In addition to the beautiful Piazza del Popolo you can admire Piazza Arringo where is the Cathedral dedicated to St. Emidio, the Palazzo dei Capitani (located in Piazza del Popolo), the Cloister of San Francesco, the Ventidio Basso theater and we'll reach the Roman bridge of Porta Solestà.

Before lunch we will have an aperitif based on local wine accompanied by the world-famous Ascoli olives.

Free lunch in restaurant.

In the afternoon we'll continue with the guided tour reaching the Papal Paper Mill.

The Papal paper mill is located on the right side of Castellano river, one of the two rivers in Ascoli Piceno. Since the VIII century the hydraulic energy of the river was exploited to move the mills and fulling-mills that made up an industrial complex of great importance for the production of various manufactured products.
In 1512 the paper mill was restructured and produced paper until the end of the First World War.

In the museum we can see the recreations of millstones, the basins for the production of “paper paste” and the instruments for the production of sheet of paper. At the end we'll move back in hotel in San Benedetto.

Dinner with fresh fisht in a charming restaurant overlooking the see. Overnight in hotel.

4th day: Monte Rinaldo - Ripatransone - Grottammare

In the morning we will move toward north to Monte Rinaldo in order to visit the archaeological area "La Cuma".

The Roman sanctuary of La Cuma was built starting from the middle 2nd century BC, and then it went through different building phases until being definitely abandoned in the first half of the 1st century BC.
It's a place of worship divided into three main structures. At the center there is a temple dedicated to Jupiter and sculptures made of painted terracotta on the fronton, as well as the other two buildings which brought to light significative fragments of architectural terracotta.
Behind the temple, there is a monumental portico, with Doric and Ionic-Italic sandstone columns dating back to the second quarter of the 2nd century. It had a function of retention of the hillside, and a scenographic function, in line with the Hellenistic architectures that right in this time spread in the Mediterranean area.

At the end of the visit we'll move in Ripatransone where you have free time for lunch.

After lunch we'll walk the city center of Ripatransone. It's well known as the village of the narrowest alley in Italy. We'll walk the city center where we find the most important civil and religious architectures such as the Cathedral, the Podestà palace, the town hall and many historical buildings.

In the late afternoon we will move to Grottammare to visit the old town where we find the most important architecture such as the theatre, the former house of the Pope Sixtus V, the tower overlooking the sea until reaching the remains of the old Castle.

At the end of the visit you can take an aperitif at sunset in the charming town square.

Dinner. and overnight at the hotel in San Benedetto.

5th day: departure

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