2023 Italy Part 3

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Mon 17th Jan
Didn’t do much today – cleaned motorhome a bit, washing, drove to Urbano and spent the night at the foot of the Palazzo Ducale. Looks spectacular. And very up.
The weather forecast is dreadful – incessant rain for a week. Unfortunately the weather has read the forecast.
Tue 18th Jan
Very wet and yucky start to the day. A pity, Urbino looks interesting. Last night, we were given a map of the old town area, the TIC office was yards away from our parking.

The view of the Palazzo, rearing up above the town walls.
I went round first, mostly inside getting up there, so didn’t get too wet. The Palazzo was a warren of rooms of varying sizes, some very big, with very little in them – mostly pictures, and the upper floor was, in fact, given over to picture gallery. There was an information board in each room (Italian and English), but was not very interesting, and after a while, I barely glanced at them. Some shots from within.

A nice ceiling – most ceilings were plain.

Panoramic photo of a painting – that’s why it is curved. Try and straighten it out in your mind!
The blurb…..
Ideal City
Attributed to Luciano Laurana, this 15th century painting of an imaginary Renaissance city is notable for its measured perspective and lack of people.

The Flagellation by Piero Della Francesca.
Not sure why this picture should be so famous, I find it really odd, with three well dressed individuals in the foreground seemingly oblivious or ignoring the dreadful events happening behind them.
Returned to motorhome, and Sue went round. She managed to get lost, and arrived back absolutely soaked, and not a little grumpy.
After she recovered, and had lunch, decided to move on. Again, with all the total cloud cover and very little driving, we decided to move on, and find a site with electric hook up.
Why is that, when batteries are full, we can only find sites with hookup, and when we need them, they ain’t there……anyway, found one a little south and west of Ancona. We hadn’t originally planned going that far, as Urbino and surrounding area looked interesting, but weather far to dire – and no let up for a week.
So, we have ended up in a small village called Offagna. About 1000 feet elevation, looking out over Ancona and the bay.
Reflections on the drive.
Because of the way the road network runs north south, we had to go back practically to Fano, and then head south down the coast road. The coast is pretty straight, and on the seaward side of the road is a railway, and then a line of buildings, almost all houses and residential apartments. This continued unbroken for about 25 miles, just occasional glimpses of the sea. A ribbon development par excellence. Or just plain dreadful.
Then, just short of Ancona, we turned inland. Around eight miles to go, on narrow roads, little wider than a single track road, winding up and down a series of hills, some very steep indeed. Always the road was threatening to get alarming driving such a big vehicle, but never actually did.
And then arrived at our Sosta camper at Offagna, with wide views, very quiet, an interesting village, and all services including full power electricity. And, a real bargain at €5.00 per night. Unfortunately, the castle only open at weekends….
We’d 18th Jan
A mostly sunny day. Went for a walk round the town – nothing very special, but enjoyable.

The ( not very clear) view from the campsite.

The (closed) castle.
Drove down the coast to Porto San Giorgio, and a Sosta camper open all year, per Park4Night, usually very reliable. Arrived, closed. Opens 1st April. Fortunately, an empty car park next door, the height barrier smashed and broken. Stayed there. Everything closed. This Adriatica coast is uninteresting and general.
On the way, decided to top up autogas, we have used about a third. First garage, no problem. This is something I had suspected and hoped, it is only northern Italy that is awkward, much more relaxed as we travel south. Hope that statement doesn’t return to haunt me!
19th & 20th Jan
Slightly backtracked and drove inland, to Abbabia de Fiastra, to find a really nice motorhome parking area. Driving inland was nice, started to see snow covered peaks in the distance.

The Abbey was quite plain with lots of subterranean passages. The more interesting parts were damaged in an earthquake, and closed to the public.

This underground passage was used to produce olive oil. What a lot!

And, a press, were the monks swilling in wine in wonder.

Large cloisters, a cistern under the central dome.

Inside the church.
Beckie has been giving increasing cause for concern, loosing weight, problems peeing, and looking quite frail. Her bowel cancer, which was expected to have already seen her off, is, we suspect, the cause.
Took her to a vet today, and they have made an appointment with another vet next Tuesday. Not sure what that will bring, but unlikely to be good news.
Fri 20th Jan

First stop Castella Della Rancia. Quite imposing from outside.

The courtyard

And, inside, a display, curiously, of theatrical costumes.

Then drove to Macerata, gloomy cloud, lots of rain. Macerata is atop a hill, probably spectacular views towards the coast. But, consistent rain. Not heavy. Just very wetly.
We went for a walk round the town, but it was so wet and cold, we went back to the vehicle.
However, there is a Palazzo Bounaccorsi, so off I went. Sue decided not to go, partly because of the weather, and partly because it advertised an art exhibition, part of which is modern.
I had quite an adventure!
Found the Palazzo without any problem, but was confronted with an arch leading to a courtyard, and a door either side. With nothing to choose between them, I turned right. A girl, who spoke very little English, directed me downstairs to a carriage exhibition.
OK.
A somewhat warren of a basement.

Thought the pram was rather splendid!
I then returned to the ground floor, and found quite a grand staircase, so up I went. About half way up, an ear splitting alarm went off. Oops. Retreated rapidly back, alarm stopped. Phew! expected a phalanx of security guards, but nothing happened.

Wandered further along a corridor, and a chap appeared out of a door, took me back to the entrance – the ticket office was through the left door.
And this left hand side was the palazzo. First floor renaissance paintings, second floor modern. And the building itself was astonishing.
Palazzo continued.

This was the first room.

Not very big, awkward to photograph. But a great wooden plinth, far to big for the room, and a decorated ceiling. In fact, all the ceilings were decorated.

From this room, a corridor leading to room after room, all the same size, all with the same colourful marble surround and painted ceilings.

The backdrop of these rooms worked spectacularly well with the paintings displayed.

Nothing about this painting. But I’m sure I know it from somewhere. I don’t think the wings will provide sufficient lift to lug that body into the air.

The one room that was considerably larger than the rest. Pity photo does not do it justice.
Sun 23rd Jan
Weather dire. This is most unfortunate, as this area of Italy (Marche) looks well worth exploring. But, it is hilly, mountainous to the west, rain snow forecast. Further south the forecast is better, still far from good, but less likelihood of continuous rain. So, we pottered slowly south, only about 40 miles or so, to Pescara. Actually had almost no rain. Pescara itself is not interesting.
Beckie is giving cause for concern. We have cancelled her Tuesday vet appointment, as we have left the area. When she was diagnosed with cancer, we were told when her tumour burst, we would know, she would be unable to eat, wouldn’t want to get up or walk, and would be generally unhappy. That hasn’t happened. She has lost weight, not that she has much to lose, but always keen to go for a walk, although she doesn’t do much when we go. She does have trouble urinating. She did chase a cat yesterday, but it was a bit of a half hearted affair. She does not appear to be distressed. Really difficult to know what to do for the best. We are hoping to visit a vet on Monday, hoping to find one who can speak English, and have a sensible discussion with him/her. Update follows…….
Mon 24th Jan
A slow start, waiting for the vet to open. When we arrived, and went in, no appointment, there was a man and a woman inside, no one else. The women spoke quite good English, fortunately. We were able to have a sensible conversation about Beckie. The upshot is, increase the dose of Metacam, and the vet gave us a prescription to mitigate the side effects. We decided that, as she does not appear to be distressed or in pain, she has another reprieve. I’ve always said, she wants to be a cat, and now she is getting through her nine lives…..
Internet search showed a very interesting hermitage/ monastery cut into a cliff, so decided to go there. Headed inland, steadily climbing. There was increasing amounts of snow, but after a while Sue fell asleep. When she woke up, we had just come to a very steep hill through a wooded area, the road was little more than one vehicle wide, and a good two foot of snow piled up either side of the road. Still had over 8kms to go, clearly going to continue up – we decided to turn back.
There are not many Sosta campers in this area, but we found one at a place called Salmona. Headed there, going down and snow getting less until it had mostly gone. Until we were close to Salmona, when if started to get thicker. And thicker. Arrived in Salmona with a over a foot of snow, although roads had been cleared. Found the Sosta camper with some difficulty – completely snowbound. We may have been able to get in, but then we would be ankle deep in snow. With nowhere else to go, we ended up in Lidl car park. Not a high point. Although Beckie may have a different opinion….

Tucked up at the back of the car park.

However, it was a car park with a view.
Tue 24th Jan
A really nice day with a disastrous start.
When I got up, I wasn’t in time to let Beckie out, and she crapped on the floor of the campervan. Fortunately, it was easy to clear up. After breakfast, I took her out, armed with the poo bag. The only rubbish bin was outside Lidl’s entrance, and as I put the bag in the bin, Beckie let rip a magnificent fart, and produced a disturbingly large quantity of diarrhoea. Just as a lady unlocked Lidl’s front door. She didn’t seem to be very happy for some reason.
The day was superb – cloudless skies. We decided to continue south, and we able to go on an inland road, winding up down and round mountains, with absolutely superb views. Unfortunately, something Italy does well is fences and crash barriers. Something Italy does not do is places to pull over, picnic spots or view points, and with the snow piled up either side of the road, we were not able to stop.
Made our way to Gambatesa, and a really nice well maintained Sosta camper with a view.

Although my altimeter app tells me we are less than 100 feet lower than last night, no snow except atop the distant mountains.
Gambatesa has a castle, Costello di Capua. So off we trundled. Up, of course. A small castle. The castle was turned into an aristocratic Renaissance residence in the late 1400’s. Although we could only go round two of the four floors, and it was something of a building site, clearly being rewired, it was really interesting with frescoes everywhere, many damaged but not all.

Flamboyant painted drapery over the door opening.

The chap in the ticket office, although speaking no English, made us very welcome, was clearly delighted to see us, and showered us with leaflets, maps and postcards.

This was Sue’s collection, I had the same again!
We don’t think they have many visitors.

A narrow street through the town.

Our Sosta camper information board says the charge is €8.00, modest enough, but no instructions how to pay. There are some QR codes, but they seemed to be in Italian, and kept inviting me to download games. Confused. Hope we don’t get towed away overnight!

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