Tour de force

As is to be expected, Monday morning came round again but unlike last week when we were heading north, this time we were heading to the south of Le Marche and Ascoli Piceno. We were able to enjoy a second day out as Douglas and Susan had again volunteered to look after Harry and Bella in our absence. It also gave them another excuse, as had our previous trip, to lunch at Pina, their favourite place to eat when on holiday at LCDDB – for its food, its ambience and its certain MSP je ne sais quoi.

Whereas Urbino’s importance came with the Renaissance, Ascoli’s goes back much further to pre-Roman days due to its position on the Via Salaria. This road transported salt from the Adriatic coast to the region of Latium, in which the city of Rome was founded. Perhaps more importantly now, it is the home of olive ascolane, the fabulously delicious stuffed, breaded and deep-fried olives that form an integral part of any even slightly celebratory meal (such as Sunday lunch) in Le Marche.

As for me, it was my first visit, though Stephen had been several times before, and whilst it maybe doesn’t have the important buildings that Urbino or other more tourist destinations have, there was something very satisfying about the city. I think it was to do with the feeling of space and the pleasing aspects of the buildings and that in the old centre there was a sense of calm and order and prosperity. This was exemplified by having two main squares, the Piazza Arringo, with the duomo and the 13thcentury Palazzo dell’Arengo, and the Piazza del Popolo, also known as il Salotto d’Italia (the living room of Italy) and held to be – and not just by the Ascoli tourist board – the most beautiful piazza in the country.

This latter square is where you can find Caffè Meletti, built in the late 19thcentury to house the Post Office it became an elegant caffè around 1905 and has seen the likes of Hemingway (but he did get everywhere), Sartre and Simone di Beauvoir sipping anisetta at its tables. I would very much recommend that you call in for a coffee – and maybe a snifter - at the bar and admire the Art Nouveau décor, but suggest you find somewhere else for lunch, as the service is as speedy as if it were still an Italian post office. The bar is next to the Palazzo dei Capitani del Popolo, built in the 13thand 14thcenturies and historically one of the most important council buildings in the city. It now houses the Department of Culture, which is how we came to find ourselves being given a personal tour of some subterranean Roman remains.

We were in the entrance to the building, admiring its pleasingly airy proportions and the small exhibition on display when a lady of a certain age emerged from a lift tucked away discreetly in the corner. We said hello politely, as one does, and then she asked if we were interested in seeing some Roman ruins. Although we were a little surprised as it was not really what we were expecting, we smiled and said we would. “Just wait a moment while I get the key,” she said, and disappeared into the office at the side of the vestibule. She reappeared a few minutes later and led us down the steps into the piazza, took a sharp left turn and opened up first some metal gates and then a door and then pulled back the curtains across the large window fronting the square.

We followed her inside, where in the substantially exposed expanse of the floor were indeed the Roman ruins that she had promised us. You were able to see them from the gallery that ran round two sides of the room but were also able to walk along gantries into the body of the excavations and look down into them. As the lady, who must have been the curator, explained, these had been hidden for centuries and only came to light after a strong earthquake just after the Second World War. Excavation work revealed some well-preserved sections of the paving for the market square as well as some parts of the walls of a couple of houses, which is what you can now see. As well as showing us the remains, the nice lady gave us a blow-by-blow account, in Italian, of the history of the area, explaining Ascoli’s importance in ancient times and how the centre of the town had changed over the years. This was all very good of her as the whole thing was entirely free of charge, but we think that she probably enjoyed sharing her knowledge with a couple of interested foreigners.

That was in the morning, and after lunch we left Ascoli as we seemed to have done what we wanted to do and headed to the coast and San Benedetto del Tronto. This is one of the main resorts in the southern part of Le Marche, and also one of the most densely populated. That may be so, but driving down the 5-kilometre long, 30-metre wide tree-lined lungamare there seemed to be plenty of space for everyone, especially holidaymakers. We parked up at the end and took a wander through the town, which was still quiet in that post-lunch period, but managed to do a spot of window shopping and enjoy a very fine ice cream while we contemplated how to spend the rest of our day away.

We decided to continue northward to the beachfront at Civitanova, but it was while we were driving there that we had to have a rapid rethink. The weather forecast for the day had not been particularly promising, and whilst it had been a little dull in both Ascoli and San Benedetto, it was at this point that the heavens decided to open – not, fortunately, as fearsomely as the previous Tuesday but certainly enough to make any walking anywhere madness. Instead we did what any red-blooded male would do in the circumstances: we went shopping at Cuore Adriatico. This proved to be a good decision as Conbipel, a clothes shop for the more discerning shopper, or one at least who thinks he is, had a very good sale on and I was able to stock up on some new polo shirts and a couple of t-shirts. We then treated ourselves to the all you can eat Chinese buffet at Mishi Mishi, where we exercised extreme restraint, and were home in time for a glass of something with our dog-sitters.

The next day was Douglas and Susan’s last full day and they very kindly took us out to dinner in the evening at L’Enoteca, it being far too long since Stephen and I had eaten there and a warm July evening was a perfect time to linger over their multiple courses on the raised section of the square’s 16thcentury portico. Before that, we partook of a glass of something fizzy at Art Asylum as we waited for Computer Luca to join us. He was muscling in, in the nicest possible way, on our evening as several weeks ago when we were thinking of things to keep our visitors entertained we asked Luca if he would like to come over for dinner one evening. Of course he would, he said, but he was away on University work until the last Sunday of their visit. Why not come on the Monday or Tuesday then, we said. Good idea.

This had vaguely slipped out mind, so last week, when Stephen received a text from Luca asking which of the two nights he should come, Monday was out as we ourselves were out, which only left Tuesday. Douglas and Susan, being the nice people that they are, said that yes, it would be lovely if Luca joined us. And a very pleasant evening we all had too, and not just because Douglas was driving so both Stephen and I could both enjoy a glass or two for a change, nor because the food was as good as ever, nor because sitting in the portico as the night dimmed seemed a perfect summer setting but maybe because of the quality of the company.

We had a little more of Douglas and Susan’s company the next morning as their flight home wasn’t till mid-afternoon, meaning we could share a light lunch before waving them off up the hill in their hire car – presumably with Susan holding on for grim death as she still doesn’t seem to have got used to the uniqueness of our road. It was odd, though, how after a bit of an unsettled period, their departure coincided with a return to settled weather of clear skies and high daytime temperatures.

It also marked a return to what passes as a comforting normality for us. Well, maybe not totally normal as there were one or two things that interrupted the comedown. The first was when Stephen, out and about on Thursday with bff Manuel, called in at Autopompei to see what joy they had had in sourcing the necessary spare part for the bereft Freeclimber from the information Stephen had given them. The short, and indeed only, answer to that is none. The nice lady said that it was not their policy to buy from Subito.it – which she might have said last week when Stephen told her about it – but that he could get it himself and give it to them. I’m sure they have their reasons. Not wanting to lose any more time, when Stephen returned to the office with his bff, Manuel was straight onto the Internet and ordered the part from the said site. We just have to wait for it to arrive, now, via Poste Italiane…

The second break in routine was last night when we went to Porto San Giorgio for the Notte Rosa, which we so enjoyed last year. This year, however, we made the mistake of leaving it till a bit later to go, meaning that when we arrived shortly after 9pm parking was at something of a premium and we ended up twenty minutes walk away from the main drag. Ah well, it’s all grist to the Fitbit mill. As this would suggest, if anything it was busier than last year and there seemed to be more areas where some form of entertainment was happening, but overall it didn’t seem to have quiet the same atmosphere. We wandered through the stalls and I bought some new intimate items in Intimissimi’s sale before we headed to the oasis of calm that is La Petite for ice cream – something that always makes a visit to PSG worthwhile no matter what else happens.