Second day in Le Marche

[london1967]

After visiting San Marino, we went to the old town of San Leo (San Leo was San Marino's companion but the town is in Italy and not part of the Republic on San Marino).

It's a beautiful old town, in a fantastic location







The castle is considered the most impregnable in Italy due to its position on a sheer cliff



This is where the infamous adventurer/sorcerer/charlatan Cagliostro was imprisoned and died.







The next stop was the two villages of Penna and Billi, which form the town of Pennabilli - one has the ruin of a castle and the other the village itself:



Carpegna is famous for its cured ham but is also a place for 'villeggiatura' in the summer; it has the imposing Palazzo dei Principi



which, together with the Rocca of Sassocorvaro (not far from here), was used in WWII to hide more than 10,000 works of art from Florence, Venice, Milan, etc.

The last stop of the day was the town of Urbania (originally Casteldurante but renamed after a pope when it was part of the papal states)






Here we went to the




where we had a restorative cup of tea and 3 pasticcini each

Comments

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

WhenI see such imposing architecture in such a difficult location, I wonder how did it get built... who were the men who persevered to create the structure? Daunting to say the least!

[dan4behr.livejournal.com]

I do the same thing!

"How did they get THAT there?!?!?!"

[london1967.livejournal.com]

Yes, I always ask myself that too!

[london1967.livejournal.com]

I know, it must have taken them a long time (and probably some people died too)

[bobalone.livejournal.com]

The deserted street in Carpegna! The plate of pasticcini! The look on Adrian's face! So wonderful.

[london1967.livejournal.com]

Thank you! We're having a great time, although all this touring can be a bit tiring.

[bobalone.livejournal.com]

Especially for Adrian, I would think, if you continue to make him walk up and down all those streets and steps! I have reached the point where I can only walk a little bit when travelling...enough to explore immediate environs. If I have to climb stairs of any significance, I take an elevator, or remain stationary at the bottom till Paul returns from his climb. The staircases in our house (and yours!) are bother enough: I don't k/need more of them on vacation. Happy Easter!!

[london1967.livejournal.com]

But I'm not a monster! LOL! (Adrian just said: "You keep thinking that Darling!")

Thanks. Hope you had a good Easter too!

[maxauburn.livejournal.com]

Lovely!

[london1967.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[tilia-tomentosa.livejournal.com]

Love those stone buildings. But of course my eyes first focused on the the (cherry plum?) tree in bloom instead on the building behind it first.

What kind of tea was that?

Talking of cherry plum trees in bloom, here are my preliminary photos on Facebook because I haven't managed to edit a selection for LJ yet (or even get all the photos that I want of the trees around my home in focus :P).
https://www.facebook.com/darina.ivanova.94/posts/518270008214928?notif_t=like

[london1967.livejournal.com]

I don't know what tree it was - it could have been a plum tree...

English breakfast - nothing sophisticated! lol

I look forward to seeing your pictures on LJ (I cannot see them on FB as I'm not on it).

[wwcitizen.livejournal.com]

Interesting town with huge impacts of architecture as well as history. Love the EMPTY streets! Does anyone actually live there? LOL Looks like this is simply a bedroom community now, rather than a thriving town with any level of commerce.

[london1967.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, the last place was quite busy but I always like - when possible - to take pictures with not many people in.