Rock-Village.com

Menu Close Menu
Rock Village Website banner picture, a rocky area with cairns

Pesaro

Pesaro (Wikipedia entry) is the capital city of the Province of Persaro and Urbino. (See point 2 on our map.) It is just a bit North of Fano (our home-base). We will start with the more general, and then move to the more personal experiences in Pesaro.

Not actually in the city but just North of Pesaro is a national park, Parco Naturale del Monte San Bartolo (Italian website). This is a large park, and surprisingly to us much of the land is cultivated. There are even old castles and villages inside the park. On one of the steep little roads is the Villa Imperiale. The building was closed for touring that time of year, but it certainly had some impressive grounds.

Villa Imperiale

This video gives a nice perspective and view of the grounds. (And yes, the villa is open to the public by appointment in the summer only.) (Villa Imperiale is 51 seconds)

link to video of Villa Imperiale grounds

We took a short walk, and came upon one of the vineyards. In the distance, you can see Santa Marina, one of the small villages.

Paul in a vineyard

 

Santa Marina in the distance

This next picture is of roughly the same spot, but you can see the steep cliff that drops off to the Adriatic Sea.

Santa Marina and the Sea

We took a picture of the grape vines themselves. You can see how they are trained to grow horizontally.

Grapevines

If you are at all interested in vineyards, watch this next video that Paul took. It shows the vines and gives an excellent example of how the vines are supported. (1 minute)

link to video of trained vines in a vineyard

At the start of this walk was an informative sign, fortunately in English as well as Italian, that talked about the 1944-1945 'Gothic Line' of World War 2. (Wikipedia entry link) This was a difficult and bloody front between the Allied forces and the German forces, that stretched from Pesaro West across Italy. Many bridges and buildings (including the Ponte Vecchio mentioned earlier) were damaged in this time frame. In the Medieval town of Fiorenzuola di Focara there is a monument to some of the fallen soldiers of both World Wars.

Monument in Fiorenzuola di Focara to soldiers killed in World War II

Here is a video before we got to the village, showing a very scenic view as well as a terraced hillside that is interesting. (73 seconds)

link to video of approach to Fiorenzuola di Focara

Fiorenzuola di Focara is a pretty village.

Fiorenzuola di Focara

Anne in the village:

Anne in Fiorenzuola di Focara

The view of the rugged seaside here is very impressive. (We were told that it becomes even more impressive a bit North, but this is as far as we went.)

The view from Fiorenzuola di Focara

This next video shows the coast; watch at least from about 10 seconds in until 40 seconds for a feel of the area. (1 minute 44 seconds total)

link to video of Fiorenzuola di Focara coast

 

Back to the city itself.One of the things Pesaro is famous for is being the birthplace of the famous composer Gioachino Rossini (Wikipedia entry). There is a museum at his house, but unfortunately it was closed the times we were in Pesaro. It is, appropriately enough, on a street that they have named 'Via Gioacchino Rossini'. They have little musical symbols embedded into the street. (Those are Paul's feet for scale.)

Musical symbol on Via Gioacchino Rossini

But there is more to see in this city. The Piazza Del Popolo (Square of the People) is the main plaza of the city. The fountain is a restoration of the historic one that was destroyed in 1944.

Horse in Pesaro fountain

Piper in Pesaro fountain

This next photo leads to a video of the square (51 seconds)

link to video of Piazza Del Popola in Pesaro

Nearby was a small square (Piazzetta Mosca) with some sculptures that were obviously related to the theater.

Statues of a woman looking at a performer

Link to a video that gives a tour of this piazzetta. (61 seconds)

link to video of Piazzetta Mosca in Pesaro

Statue of a performer in Pesaro

Also near the square was a restaurant that has had a big impact on Anne. It is just a little informal restaurant called Baghetta (website, in Italian). It was lunchtime and we were getting very hungry. We stopped outside and looked at the menu. A man working there greeted us, and assured us that they had vegetarian items available. Paul ordered a caprese salad; the man suggested getting it withburrata instead of regular mozzarella. This was a fine suggestion; Paul was impressed with the burrata.

Caprese salad with burrata cheese

Anne ordered the "Greengrocer" (Ortolano) sandwich, which was a multigrain bread with grilled eggplant, grilled zucchini, and sundried tomato. Anne fell in love. Best.Sandwich.Ever. Since we have returned from Italy, Anne has frequently made herself a grilled vegetable sandwich for lunch.

Grilled vegetable sandwich from the Baghetta Restaurant

There is a Ponte Vecchio in Pesaro. Not the same as the one we showed you in Florence. This one is much smaller. The sign stated that the river Pisaurum (the Roman name for Pesaro) was once crossed by a Roman Bridge that was part of Via Flaminia (that road that goes from Rome to Fano, and then turns North). The remains of that bridge were used as the base of the current version. As with many things in this area, the bridge was damaged again in 1944; it was rebuilt in 1968.

Ponte Vecchio in Pesaro

Paul on the bridge:

Paul on Ponte Vecchio in Pesaro Italy

Link to a video (90 seconds)looking back at the bridge and out to the Adriatic. The park is Orti Giulio (Giulio Gardens).

link to video of  Orti Giulio

Link to video (44 seconds) mentioned in the previous video.

link to video of Pesaro

We stumbled into a little building that has been a museum since 1756! It is the Oliverian Archaeological Museum (Wikipedia entry).

Courtyard of the Oliverian Archaeological Museum

Pesaro (as well as Fano) is a port city. There is a park area and walk along the shoreline. At one spot is this fun compass that shows the directions plus the names of the winds.

Compass in Pesaro

In Piazzale della Libertà is The Great Sphere, is a bronze casting of a 1967 Montreal World Fair sculpture by Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro.

The Great Sphere bronze casting

The breakwater has large blocks which are cleverly and minimalistically decorated as dice.

Pesaro break-water painted like dice

Paul

Paul in Pesaro

Paul and Anne

Paul and Anne in Pesaro

Continuing on this more personal theme, we will again talk about food. Francesco, Doni, and Flo took us to a pizza restaurant in Pesaro. This isn't actually their favorite pizza place. However, this crust is likely the best crust we have ever tried. The restaurant is Bubini Pizza.

Pizza at Bubini in Pesaro Italy

Now it is time for a little story.

When Great Aunt Tina died, the photographs that she and Great Uncle Danny had needed to be distributed. Paul went through them and divided them up based on who the pictures were of. But there were a few pictures where he couldn't identify anyone who was in them, even though he could tell they were taken in Italy. His Mom was unable to identify anyone. So we brought the pictures to Italy with us, and asked Francesco. Nope, he didn't recognize them. We then asked a relative on the other side, Grazia. Nope, she didn't recognize them. So we were mystified. Then Doni saw the pictures and said "I know her! She is a close friend of my sister." It turns out that these people had been neighbors of Doni's family in Sant'Angelo in Lizzola. Doni got us in touch with them, and they invited us over for dinner. The mystery was finally solved.  The photographs were of Paul's grandfather's first cousin Laura and her children! Laura's mother Annuziata Bertini was Paul's grandfather's mother's (Anna Bertini Diotalevi Ciacci's) sister. We had completely lost contact with this branch of the family.

In the picture below are Laura (Paul's grandfather's 1st cousin), Doni, Alizia (Laura's daughter), Paul, Francesco, and Roberto (Alizia's husband).

Dinner with Laura and family

A little after this, Laura's son and his wife joined us. In this picture are (back row:) Stefano (Laura's son), Alizia, Roberto, (front row:) Cristina (Stefano's wife), Laura, Paul, and Anne. (And thank you to Alizia for sharing this picture with us.)

Laura and family

Laura was kind enough to give us a history of her side of the family, and brought some pictures as well. She even had a picture of Paul's grandfather Gino and grandmother Viola in front of the house in Connecticut! It was a lovely evening with them, and we were delighted to meet them.

 

Updated July 2020