Yesterday, Kim and I spent time visiting the Sibillini Mountains and the Sibillini National Park with Filiberto. I was concerned about taking him away for the day, but he said he needed a day to clear his head from all the stress of the end of the term, planning a conference, etc. (I think he just said that so I wouldn't feel guilty). Filiberto picked us up at 8:30 and we didn't get back home until after 5. To be completely accurate the entire day was not within the confines of the park but rather we weaved in and out as we made our way around. Filiberto drove just fine, but as you might imagine some of the roads were not exactly four-lave highways. Fortunately for most of the day we encountered no oncoming traffic.

The day was overcast but we weren't rained on all morning. Unfortunately, photos won't do it justice (they never do). First stop was the village of Pian di Pieca. From there we made our way to Pian di Ragnolo where there are lots of cross country ski trails. From there we drove to Acquacanina then on to the "big city" (compared to the villages we had been) of Bolognola. Wikipedia says it has 152 residents, but in fact most of these places have a number of vacation homes that people use mostly in winter for skiing and in summer for hiking. Of course there are weekend visitors, too, but the fact that we visited on a weekday in the spring meant we didn't have any crowds. We stopped for coffee at a lodge in Pintura di Bolognola where it was just us and one employee. As a matter of fact Filiberto explained that our coffee probably wasn't the greatest because a machine has to be used a little bit before it produces the best stuff.

What came next was rather surprising. We visited the Sanctuary of Macereto, a 16th Century basilica virtually in the middle of nowhere. A church would have been something, but this place had more than just the church. The old portico around two sides still showed where pilgrims would have spent the night. What fascinated me most was that there was nothing around this place, and here it was.


After our visit we went down to the town of Visso. This was a real town, with shops and restaurants and everything. It had started to rain lightly so our walk around town was somewhat restricted, although Kim made sure to visit at least the stone bridge she saw. As this website mentions, what you immediately notice is the presence of water - two very fast rivers run through town, and there's a trout hatchery. At lunch we actually bumped into someone we knew. A man who had done the wine tasting at a slow food event we had attended back in February came over to say hello. He works at a factory in Visso that produces frozen pizzas.














On the way back we went through the villages of Ussita, Valnerina, Cesi and Seravalle di Chienti, which was pretty much the epicenter of the 1997 earthquake that devastated a number of places from Assisi to Macerata. If you clicked on all the links you noticed that our travels took us out of the Marche and into Umbria, too.

We kept track of all the animals. We saw all sorts of birds (including hawks), Kim saw a deer, cattle, goats and we drove through this flock being herded down the road by a shepherd.

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This is Kim's artistic shot to show the mountain wildflowers and the mountains.



One of the rivers in Visso


We finished the day with Angelica and Filiberto over for dinner. Kim has been wanting to have them over, but they have been so busy.