Day 11 - Five hilltop medieval towns

Today we visited 5 different towns built on the top of hills, as so many of them are in this region.  It was kind of like the Cinque Terre of Le Marche, except the towns were further apart and a lot fewer tourists.

The five towns are Recanati, Montelupone, Treia, Appignano and Cingoli.

All these towns have the same theme.  They are built on top of a hill - usually the biggest Cathedral is right at the top of the hill, and the rest of the town is built around it.  There are many other churches in the same small area.  There are palaces, most of which are now museums.  There's always a monument to the people who died in the 1rst and 2nd World War.  And they always have amazing views of the countryside that surrounds it.

Driving up to them, they all look pretty much like this - that's a smaller one; in fact one that we didn't visit, but we had a good view of it anyway.

First stop was Recanati.  Here's a sample of one of the palaces, which is now part of the University.

...and the beautiful view.

The monument to the war dead...

And statues.  There are a lot of famous Italian artists from many of these towns, and they have statues and museums dedicated to them.  This is Giacomo Leopardi.  Didn't bother going into the museum, because I'm not sure I would have had an appreciation for a famous Italian poet.

Behind the main façades, you always find lovely little passageways and beautiful courtyards.

On to the next town - Montelupone.  This one has very steep hills leading into it.  Top of a hill - shouldn't be a surprise, but these were particularly steep.  It seems to attract many cyclists who want to prove they can do it, I guess.

Great views from the top.

Many of which you get a peek at through a gate or someone's courtyard.

Looking back from outside the gate.

Then we went to Treia, who's claim to fame is a festival honouring an old Italian ball game, which is played with a leather ball and a mallet that you put on your hand, which has sharp points on it.  Looks like some type of torture device.

Here is their monument to the war dead...

...and the great views.

Cingoli was by far the highest town and had the best views - although it does look very similar to all the other views, only from a bit higher up.

Also has it's central church and towers.

It's just all so beautiful.  You become somewhat immune to it, because it's everywhere.  

My only complaint about this area is that the lack of tourists has one drawback.  We've been having a hard time finding places to eat lunch.  Restaurants are simply not opened at lunch time.  Not enough people to justify it I guess.  But, I think I can live with that.  It's much nicer to have time to wander through these villages in a calm and authentic atmosphere, where you only run into locals.