Saturday 24 June 2023
We did a lot of driving, but not so fast as a Grand Prix. Masses of seaside-bound Italians and some prangs meant we had quite a laborious 4 hour drive along the featureless Po valley from Parma down to the tiny landlocked state of San Marino. We set out at ten, arrived around two, with only a handful of cherries in the car to sustain us along the way. And we still have an hour’s drive to our final destination tonight of Urbino!
I wasn’t too bothered at arriving in San Marino so late. Everything we’d read about it reported it to be a theme park-like tourist trap packed full of day-trippers. So once we’d hopped on the funicular and ridden up to the top of the mighty rock at the heart of the principality I was expecting to grab lunch, have a mooch and then head back.
But San Marino is actually quite charming, with winding vertiginous lanes of handsome marble architecture pretty much free of cars. And there’s a good reason for it to attract tourists: the old town of San Marino is absolutely perched about 500m above its surroundings so the views are astonishing in all directions. Okay, so during our visit we didn’t see anyone that wasn’t either a tourist or a tourist-wrangler, but it really wasn’t that crowded either. And lunch was pretty good and inexpensive; a piadini stuffed with mortadella and soft cheese. I’m completely converted to mortadella, it has a beautiful savoury flavour and a melting texture.
In the end it took us almost four hours to stop taking endless photos of the three towers of San Marino and the stunning views around them, and to walk along the quiet forested path that follows the crest of the peak to its far end. Which meant we finally rolled into Urbino around 7pm.
But the day doesn’t stop there, because it turns out that Urbino is just splendid too. We dropped our luggage off then wandered into the Fortezza gardens right beside our B&B, where the best views of the Ducal Palace can be had. And in the evening these are wonderful views indeed. After trying to capture it on camera for a while, we noticed that no-one else here had a camera in hand or was even looking at the view. So of the dozens of people in the gardens, we must have been the only tourists. Nice change!
Later we headed downhill from our B&B to find dinner around 9pm at a little trattoria. We took a negroni over the road while waiting for a table. Hmm… maybe we’re beginning to turn a little Italian? : ) Anyway, the rabbit porchetta was a great local specialty.
After dinner we strolled around the town’s compact centre, which seems to be all wrapped around the ducal palace. We paused to listen to a really bad student band playing live outside, and then wandered on through collonades to find that half the town’s families had come out to drink and mingle in the main square. We stopped for a late night gelato and watched the kids, families and couples for a while before finally heading to bed. Molto bene.
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