Continued from Page 1 of Medieval Mountain Villages
Site #13 is Orciano di Pesaro. At some point, the clock at the village entrance broke, and we can imagine the community being annoyed ... "We have to fix that again?" So they came up with a different solution.
The sculptor Giò Pomodoro is from Orciano. A resident of the village saw us looking at the sculptures and verified this for us.
The view from Orciano is breathtaking.
This next video shows the view from and the plaza pictured above. In the video, Paul states that Mondavio (the village you see in the photo above) is the home to the Lucarelli / Londei relatives; we found out later that was incorrect. (2 minutes 2 seconds)
Here is another video, also taken in Orciano (Paul says the name incorrectly in this video) that shows the Marche countryside. It gives a good look. (2 minutes 3 seconds)
Getting back to doors, this one is a favorite. Notice on the top are Anne's initials.
Not far away, as you could tell from the above picture & video, is Mondavio (site #14 on the map). Every summer there is a 2-day historic reenactment. They have a number of "machines of war" that they show during the festival.These were in a closed-off area. No climbing on the war machinery for the local children!
There was a small modern sculpture display nearby also.
This person is obviously a very heavy sleeper.
(Paul is cringing at Anne's pun, right along with you.) Outside of the walls, a playground with a view.
This next picture gives a nice perspective on the height of the walls.
Just inside one entrance is a large plaza, next to towers and the castle. In the tower on the right, you can see one of the war machines.
Remember the turnbuckles mentioned on the previous page? Here is another example of a turnbuckle end-piece, this time flared to spread out the load more.
The church there, Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paterniano (Church of Saints Peter and Paternian), had a lovely little side chapel. According to Wikipedia, Paternian was a bishop in Fano (our home base for the visit).
The entrance to the church was very typical. The large exterior doors opened to a small entry way. Straight across was a double door that was closed, and on each side were small doors to use for entering and exiting. The double door perhaps would be opened for services, and certainly for something like a wedding or funeral. Our guess is that this is for protection from inclement weather.
The following video is taken from where one of the village roads does a 90' turn. You can see the steeple of the Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paterniano in the video. (50 seconds)
Lunch in Italy is typically 1:30 or 2:00 PM. If the clock on wall is to be believed, we were rather late for lunch on this particular day. But we had a lovely view. (If we had eaten outside the view would have been even better, but the school across the piazza was on recess so it was rather noisy outside.)
Paul had pasta, Anne had a grilled vegetable sandwich, and we shared a bottle of sparkling water and a half liter of the house wine.
While we were ordering, the waitress (daughter of the owner, we believe) said that there was another American couple who had just finished eating outside. We thought to ourselves, "Oh, that's nice, the US is a big country." But Anne went out to say hello, just as they were coming inside to greet us. Susanna and Peter have a condo in Mondavio, but live on Cape Cod - less than 40 miles away from us!
We had a wonderful time chatting with them, and exchanged contact information.
For anyone interested: there is an Italian Language School for Foreigners in Mondavio. Staying in a historic village while learning the language does sound like fun!
We leave Mondavio with a view back at Orciano.
Link to video of the above scene and then a walk back into Mondavio (1 minute 41 seconds)
The last village we will visit on these 2 pages is #15 on the map, Sant'Ippolito. Lina (Francesco's mother) and Aunt Tina (Lina's sister) grew up here before moving to Fano with the family in 1955. Here is Anne by the stone wall, with her purple water bottle holder.
Behind the trees is a view of the lovely Marche countryside.
This is the house of Florindo and Guiseppina, and their two daughters Tina and Lina. Unfortunately, no one is currently living in the house, so it needs repairs!
Here is a video of Francesco and Anne in front of the house. (62 seconds)
As a slight detour, here is a video we took while driving around the countryside. Since Paul worked in telephone outside plant, the utility poles were particularly interesting. They aren't wood; they are concrete. (39 seconds)
That concludes our little tour of some of the Marche villages. It was thrilling to visit so many small historic communities, particularly the ones with connections to the family!
Updated July 2020