Tonino Guerra's Places of the Soul, the Dalai Lama's bell, the Rocca Fregoso and Sant'Agata's wooden theatre
The upper Marecchia valley, green and quiet, an hour from the sea. In Pennabilli the poet and screenwriter Tonino Guerra, who wrote the films of Fellini and Antonioni, spent his final years and filled the village with small poetic places. Sant'Agata Feltria is a village with a fairytale fortress and one of the oldest wooden theatres in Italy.
Long half day: leave early or skip one visit.
Times are a guide: driving times are worked out without traffic, then come the visits and ten minutes at every stop to park. In summer towards the coast and at rush hour allow extra time.
Scattered throughout the village: the Orto dei frutti dimenticati, a garden of old fruit varieties that were disappearing, with artworks by Tonino's friends; the Strada delle meridiane, with sundials painted on house walls; the Rifugio delle Madonne abbandonate, with sacred images recovered from the countryside. Everything small, poetic, outside time.
The Orto has seasonal opening times: check beforehand; the other places are outdoors.
Pennabilli sits on two rocks. On the Roccione there is a large Tibetan peace bell: it commemorates Father Orazio Olivieri della Penna, a Capuchin friar from the village who lived in Lhasa in the 18th century and wrote the first Tibetan-Italian dictionary. This is why the Dalai Lama has visited twice. From the top, the whole valley.
Short climb on foot.
A fortress built on a sandstone boulder, as if emerging from the stone, remodelled in the 15th century by Francesco di Giorgio Martini and later the residence of the Fregoso family. It is called the 'Fortress of Fairytales' because it houses a museum dedicated to fairytales, much loved by families.
Opens mainly at weekends and during the fair season: check beforehand.
A small theatre entirely in wood with boxes, built in the 17th century and among the oldest in Italy still in use, named after the conductor Angelo Mariani. Around it the village with its stone streets and square.
Can be visited when open: ask at the tourist office.
How long it takes from each town, the drive back included. Tap a town to see the plan from there.
Almost every old town has a limited traffic zone (ZTL) with cameras: park outside and walk in. The fine reaches your home, abroad too. ZTL and car parks town by town
Romagna Transfer picks you up at your hotel, drops you in front of every stop and brings you back: no parking, no ZTL, and the wine is yours to enjoy.
The Tiberius Bridge, Borgo San Giuliano, the Arch of Augustus, the Domus of the Surgeon, the Tempio Malatestiano and Piazza Cavour.
5 h 00 from Castel San Pietro Terme Half day
The plan
The Fellini Museum between Castel Sismondo and Palazzo del Fulgor, the Fulgor cinema, the murals of the Borgo, the Grand Hotel and the director's tomb.
6 h 00 from Castel San Pietro Terme Half day
The plan
The tufa caves, the Marchi printing workshop with its mangle, the Ganganelli Arch and the castle of the Azzurrina legend.
6 h 05 from Castel San Pietro Terme Long half day
The plan
The Rocca del Sasso and the Villanovian museum in Verucchio, the Forte di San Leo with Cagliostro's cell, the Pieve and the Duomo.
6 h 50 from Castel San Pietro Terme Full day
The plan
The Rocca and walls of Gradara, where tradition places the love story sung by Dante, and the Rocca Malatestiana of Montefiore.
6 h 10 from Castel San Pietro Terme Long half day
The plan
The Ducal Palace with the National Gallery of the Marche, Raphael's house and the Oratory of San Giovanni.
6 h 40 from Castel San Pietro Terme Full day
The planTrips written by our editors from the facts of our monument pages and the official sites. Opening days and hours change: the note under every place tells you what to check before you leave. No prices: you find them on the museums' sites.
