This page is designed to give you a flavour of what is so special about Marche, some of the attractions and activities that might interest you together with practical information to help you plan your holiday and your journey.
If you are interested in some more organised sight-seeing look at
, typical Le Marche Products - Mymarca.com. They can organise various tours, and shopping expeditions.
Where are we ?
You can zoom in on the map to the right to get an overview of where we are or see a more detailed map showing us in relation to some of the other places to stay nearby. We think we are one of the best, you judge for yourselves ! See below for some of the fantastic places to visit near us.
How to get to us
Click on the directions box for our GPS co-ordinates and how to get to us by road. We are an hour from Ancona airport served by Ryanair from Stansted and Lufhansa, Air Dolomiti and United Airlines from Munich ; and less than two hours from Rimini ( from Stansted and East Midlands). Pescara from (East Midlands with Ryanair and Frankfurt with Lufhansa) is also less than 2 hours away.
Bologna Forli (from Stansted) and Rome (including from Liverpool with Ryanair and Bristol with Easyjet) airports are less 3 hours away.
Ancona is well connected by high speed train to Rome and is on the main east coast line, our nearest train stations are Macerata and Corridonia. If you want the leisurely journey to Ancona try the overnight sleeper from Paris via Milan (13 hours).
Car hire is available at the airports and Ancona station from major car hire companies. We are happy to arrange pick ups if you prefer not to drive - please contact us to discuss your requirments.
Francavilla D'Ete
Casal dei Fichi is 2 k from the centre of the village of Francavilla d'Ete which has a population of less than 1,000; with it's walled medieval centre it is a picturesque place to start your exploration of Marche. Francavilla has all the essentials you will need for your stay with us - a grocers, chemist, general store, newsagent, petrol station, bank, two bars and importantly an excellent small restaurant. Madre Tierra is very popular with the locals and with visitors for it's warm welcome, fun atmosphere and excellent yet inexpensive food - we highly recommend it to you.
Throughout the year and particularly in the summer there is a constant stream of festivals, many celebrating crops and harvests, local food and wines and most feature music, entertainment and heraldic traditions. Francavilla hosts several, the culmination being September's "Lu Vurgu fa Cantina" this is Marche dialect for the 'village becomes a restaurant' . This fantastic three day party (in 2008 5 - 7th September) transforms the village as little cantinas are opened up on all the main medieval streets. For the festival the village sets up an enormous kitchen in the square which caters for up to 3,000 people a night. Live music and entertainment keeps the village rocking well into the small hours.
Well how long have you got ?! Marche is a wonderful area and is often described as 'all of Italy in one region'. For one of the best resource sites to everything Marche see Marche Voyager To the east is the Adriatic sea so as you would expect there are some stunning beaches to suit all tastes, from isolated sandy quiet coves and sleepy small resorts to large seaside communities at which you will find all the usual beach facilities. To the west are the Sibillini mountains, home to one of the national parks of Italy.
Casal dei Fichi is situated centrally in Marche half way between these two fantastic amenities and also equidistant from two of the largest renaissance cities in the region, Urbino in the north and Ascoli Piceno in the south. Both these cities are worthy of a visit if you are interested in history, renaissance or baroque art, galleries and museums, beautiful architecture, live theatre, shopping, fine dining or simply to enjoy the pleasures of Italian life.
Marche is still very much undiscovered and it's roads and attractions are relatively quiet so you can be assured that your holiday is not likely to be one of a heavily worn tourist trail. There are literally hundreds of medieval hilltop towns to explore, each with its own unique flavour and interest. For us one of the great pleasures has been to explore some of these fascinating villages, be entertained by the local event or attraction and then have a lazy lunch or dinner in a nearby restaurant.
Of course there are too many attractions to list them all here, but what follows is a sample of some of our favourite, many of which are less than one hours drive away . We hope they will inspire you to seek out others. We will be happy to guide you further when you stay at Casal dei Fichi.
Macerata Opera Festival: Held each summer in the dramatic Sferisterio open air theatre which has the medieval town walls as a backdrop and the summer sky as a roof.
Frasassi Caves: A complex of caves which extends for 30 km on 8 geological levels, one of the largest subterranean routes in the world
Sibillini mountains: Incredible scenery in any season, excellent to drive, walk or cycle. There is even skiing here too and some excellent mountain restaurants.
Portonovo beach: Our particular favourite for its simplicity. There is a great little restaurant here and there is no better stretch of coastline for beachcombing.
Monte Conero national park: Located near Ancona on a large headland it offers hours of undisturbed exploration along a the winding coast road.
Markets: Most towns have a regular market which are a great exhibition even if you are not shopping !
Loreto: A medieval town with stunning architecture
Urbs Salvia: Marche's largest and best preserved Roman remains. Nearby is the Abbadia di Fiastra, dating back to the 6th century this fascinating abbey sits in extensive grounds with restaurants, bars and a shops.