Palmabella's Passions

We headed to the coastal town of Senigallia for their market day. It was a busy place with a very large market. Finding parking was a challenge, but we were able to get a spot not too far from the center of things. We walked through the old rocca to the area of town where the market was, and found a nice energy in Senigallia. We wandered away from the market area and found a very clean town with some upscale shops and pretty churches and piazze. I was so busy looking around, I forgot to take photos!

We stopped for lunch at a small trattoria with a few outdoor tables. I kept it simple with a plate of spaghetti cacio e pepe, while Brad ordered ravioli with shrimp and avocado. (Sounds weird, right?) We both enjoyed our meal.

Next we headed to the tiny town of Mondavio, thanks to Giulia's suggestion. I loved it on the way up the hill, and even more from the moment we drove inside the wall. We parked at the Rocca, and found a picture perfect little hill town.

We had coffee in this piazza with trees and a view:

There are 3,800 residents, three restaurants, three bars, three churches, and a Dante Aligheri language school. We wandered through the residential streets around the wall, and watched as they set up for a garden show on Saturday.

After 14 Italy trips, I finally have an answer to the question, "If you could live in Italy, where would you want to live?" MONDAVIO!

We returned to the locanda for a short rest. That evening, we drove the very short distance to the very cute town of Fermignano. We had some wine at a nice little outdoor bar during sunset. Then we had dinner at Trattosteria, beginning with a plate of antipasti misti, followed by a delicious pasta with guanciale and herbs.

It was a perfect day in Le Marche!