Visite Date：May 3, 2019, approximately 2:00 p.m.
On the 3rd of May, we visited a beautiful village, also in the Marche region, but this time on the Adriatic side. This was the third beautiful village of the day. It’s a village called Grottammare. According to the records, the history of the village started around the 11th century.
It was cloudy in the morning, but when we left our second stopover of that day, San Ginegeo, the weather had cleared up. When we reached the sea, it was pretty clear so that it was so pleasant to drive on clear days.
To get to our next destination, Grottammare that is one of the most beautiful villages in Italy, we drove south for about 30 minutes on the motorway facing the Adriatic Sea. The scenery was great as we drove closer to the sea than I expected. To get to that village, we had to pass through it and get off at a highway exit about a kilometer away from it.
The center of Grottammare was located on a hill, a short distance from the sea. The highway we just crossed was below the hill, it was a tunnel.
I was able to grasp the geography of the area, but I had a hard time finding the way up to this hill from the main road SS16 that runs along the coast. There was a lot more traffic on this main road SS16 than I expected…
Even so, I somehow managed to find a path towards the village side of the hill and was able to enter there, but the next difficulty that awaited me was finding a parking lot. This was also one hardship. It seemed to be the only way to park on this narrow road. I had rented a big SUV. But luckily I was able to put the car there nicely because there was a slightly wider space available.
However, I later found out that there was actually a large parking lot near the entrance on the other side of the road from we got here. It was quite a big parking lot according to Google Maps. I wish I could have found this place first.
In addition, Grottammare has a train station and it looks like there was free parking in front of the station as well. This can also be seen on Google Maps.
Well, Grottammare is a very beautiful village perched on a hill overlooking the Adriatic Sea. Because it was after noon, not in season, and on a weekday, the town was very quiet, but it made me feel comfortable.
We visited the old town on the hill. The sea was just around the corner, and It will probably be crowded with tourists in summer. With sea and mountains, Marche is a good place.
We could see some restoration here as well. This also appeared to be the impact of the earthquake of three years ago. However, this village was a relatively advanced restoration, where there were many areas which had become beautiful.
Now the neat and tidy central square of the village is a must-see. From the arched viewing platform you can see the whole Adriatic Sea. Beautiful.
The statue in the central square is “Sixtus V”, a Pope of the late 16th century (reigned: 1585 – 1590). He was a Pope from this village.
Pope Sixtus V, according to wikipedia.
He worked tirelessly to restore security to the papal territories and to rebuild the finances of the papacy, and he invested generously in public works projects to make Rome a modern city. Although he is often criticized, he is the greatest pope of all time in terms of his achievements.
This piazza was very quiet when we visited, but it seems to have a lot of attractions such as the church of San Giovanni Battista and Santa Lucia. It’s a pity we couldn’t get in at all.
There was also a church (Sant’Agostino Church) on the south side of the city, but I didn’t notice it either.
Still, the town was very beautiful, and above all, the view of the beautiful Adriatic Sea was wonderful.
The vigorous visit of beautiful villages of the day continued with a further one.
