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Tourist Guides in the Marche!
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<THE PLACES OF FAITH>Walking through churches, sanctuaries, abbeys and basilicasThe province of Macerata
MACERATA. To visit with the guide: the Basilica della Madonna della Misericordia, with the inside covered by marble, projected by Luigi Vanvitelli; the Cathedral, built in the XVIII century projected by Cosimo Morelli and the St. Maria delle Vergini Church with a Greek cross central structure. The latter is beloved by the population because it rises on a place where the Virgin appeared and rich in treasures, among which a work of Tintoretto. A curious element is a hanging stuffed crocodile.
TOLENTINO. To visit with the guide: the Basilica of St. Nicola da Tolentino, one of the most famous and frequented sanctuaries of central Italy with an elegant cloister and a rich cycle of fourteenth-century paintings of a school riminese which decorate the Cappellone of Giotto.Pievebovigliana – VissoThe province of Macerata
PIEVEBOVIGLIANA. To visit with the guide: the St. Giusto in St. Maroto Church. The Abbey is a jewel of the Romanic art set in the mountains, its architecture, unique and precious, narrates of oriental workforces after Charlemagne.
VISSO. To visit with the guide: the Madonna di Macereto Sanctuary, 
a beautiful stone construction that is maybe the higher expression of the sixteenth-century architecture in the Marche region. The Romanesque-Gothic St. Maria Collegiate Church which rises in a little parish church dated 1143; the Church of St. Agostino founded in 1338 and located on the left side of the Collegiate church. The central nave, the apse, the sacristy and a chapel were used to set up the civic diocesan museum of Leopardi’s manuscripts. -
<THE PLACES OF FAITH>The Romanic Abbeys on the Chienti valleyThe province of Macerata
TOLENTINO. To visit with the guide: the St. Maria di Chiaravalle Abbey, which is surrounded by the Villa Bandini wood with a majestic poplar tree-lined way dating back to the XII century and a church in Romanesque-Cistercian style. A magnificent and solemn monument, which presents on the inside three naves and a swell cloister.
CORRIDONIA. To visit with the guide: the St. Claudio al Chienti Abbey, of ancient origins, founded between the VI and VII century, in a ravennate style with an inferior and a superior church, linked by an inside passage to the two cylindrical angular towers still existing at the façade.
MONTECOSARO. To visit with the guide: the St. Maria a Piè Di Chienti Abbey, called “Santissima Annunziata”, it is a foundation that dates back to the IX century. The interior, in the form of a basilica with three aisles, preserves paintings and a remarkable wooden Crucifix from the XV century.
The Abbeys of the Potenza ValleyThe province of Macerata
MONTELUPONE. To visit with the guide: the St. Firmano Abbey, a Romanesque construction with a bas relief-lunette at the portal. The crypt preserves a terracotta work of Ambrogio della Robbia (1526), while in the sacristy there is a wooden Crucifix.
POLLENZA. To visit with the guide: the Rambona Abbey founded in about 891, on commission by the queen Ageltrude, daughter of the Lombard Adelchi. According to researches carried out by many historians, St. Amico of Rambona retired to contemplate and meditate in this abbey and there is the body of St. Flaviano of Ricina, martyr-bishop of Helvia Recina. -
<THE PLACES OF FAITH>Ancona – Serra S. Quirico – PortonovoThe province of Ancona
ANCONA. To visit with the guide: the St. Ciriaco Cathedral, which is seat of the Archdiocese, is one of the most interesting medieval churches in Italy, a fusion between Romanic style and byzantine plan and decorations. It rises in a panoramic position at the summit of the Guasco Hill, already occupied by the acropolis of the Doric city, whence it dominates Ancona and its gulf.
SERRA S. QUIRICO. To visit with the guide: the St. Elena Abbey dating to the XI century and located at the entrance to the “Gola Della Rossa”. It is one of the principal Romanesque churches of the Esino Valley.
PORTONOVO. To visit with the guide: the St. Maria in Portonovo Abbey, a splendid Romanesque church established by the Benedictines in 1034, after a donation of some inhabitants of Poggio.Loreto – OsimoThe province of Ancona
LORETO. To visit with the guide: the St. Casa Basilica founded to protect, according to the tradition, the House of the Virgin Mary. Full of masterpieces, it is one of the most important and visited Marian Shrines in the catholic world and aim of many pilgrims.
OSIMO. To visit with the guide: the St. Leopardo Cathedral, which represents one of the most interesting example of Romanesque-Gothic architecture of the Marche Region, it has a fascinating crypt and funeral monuments. You can also discover the St. Giuseppe Da Copertino Sanctuary , dedicated in the past to St. Francesco, and the St. Mark the Evangelist Church, built at the beginning of the XIV century by the Augustinian nuns and preserving a precious painting of Guercino. -
<THE PLACES OF FAITH>Fermo – Montefortino – AmandolaThe province of Fermo
FERMO. To visit with the guide: the Cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and located on the fascinating Girfalco Hill. It has a wonderful Istrian stone façade and a one of the most beautiful rosette windows in the Marche Region.
MONTEFORTINO. To visit with the guide: the Madonna dell’Ambro Shrine, which takes its name from the nearby Ambro creek, is one of oldest and most visited sanctuaries in the Marche Region (after Loreto). Also called the little Lourdes of the Sibillini Mountains, it is located at an altitude of 658 metres and it is set between Mount Priora and Mount Castel Manardo.
AMANDOLA. To visit with the guide: the Benedictine St. Ruffino and Vitale Abbey,which has a Romanesque style and dates back to the late X century. It is located along the right bank of the Tenna River and is surrounded by a suggestive naturalistic area.Ascoli Piceno – OffidaThe province of Ascoli Piceno
ASCOLI PICENO. To visit with the guide: the imposing St. Emidio Cathedral, which has ancient origins and a wonderful Renaissance façade in travertine; it guards in the crypt the relics of the Saint and preserves in the Sacrament Chapel a beautiful polyptych of Carlo Crivelli. You can discover the thirteenth-century St. Francesco Church and the St. Pietro Martire Church, rich in interesting paintings. The St. Vincenzo e Anastasio Church, which preserves in the crypt a little tub called “Pozzo Di San Silvestro”, from which a kind of water flowed which was considered miraculous, or maybe only curative, and to which resorted leprous of the 14th and 15th century.
OFFIDA. To visit with the guide: the St. Maria Della Rocca Church, which is one of the most sacred buildings in the whole Marche Region. It is located at the western end of the town on a high cliff. Maestro Albertino built in 1330 this big building in terracotta tiles and in a Romanesque-Gothic style at the site of a preexisting little Benedictine Church. -
<THE PLACES OF FAITH>Urbino – Serra Sant’Abbondio – PiandimeletoThe province of Pesaro - Urbino
URBINO. To visit with the guide: the Cathedral, originally built in the XV century and, later created in a neoclassical style by the famous architect Valadier. On the inside, there are some paintings of Federico Barocci. The St. Giovanni Battista Oratory, rich in precious paintings in international Gothic style and made by the Fratelli Salimbeni in 1416.
SERRA SANT’ABBONDIO. To visit with the guide: the Fonte Avellana Monastery, dedicated to the Holy Cross and located at the foot of Monte Catria. The Hermitage is mentioned in the Divina Commedia (Paradiso, canto XXI) by Dante Alighieri who maybe had once been there.
PIANDIMELETO. To visit with the guide: the St. Maria Del Mutino Abbey probably dating back to 1125, was built on the ruins of a pagan temple dedicated to Dio Mutino (god of fertility for the fields).