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Orciano di Pesaro and Cerasa

Finishing up the pictures from our second week in Italy, we have some pictures from two more small villages. The first is Orciano di Pesaro. Although Orciano is slightly smaller than Mondavio, that is where we had to go for our groceries while we stayed in the Airbnb. Here is the view of Orciano di Pesaro from Mondavio. The old city center towers stand strong over the village, with the agricultural fields lying between the two 'borghi'.

In the foreground are fields and trees, including olive trees. The buildings of the village run in a line on the crest of a low ridge.

The entrance to the downtown has a relatively wide archway.

Anne in front of the entrance to Orciano, with the bell tower visible over the entryway.

The small church has an extremely ornate entry. A sign states that ancient tradition attributes the portal to the famous Raffaello. Of course, with that phrasing you know he was not actually involved.

A white stone portal around a large reddish-brown door. The stone has intricate carving on it.

There is an outstanding view of Mondavio from Orciano. You can see the high walls of the city, the various towers, and on the right La Rocca. Our rental was on the far side of La Rocca from this viewpoint.

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While you probably do not remember this, we visited Orciano di Pesaro when we were in Italy in 2018. At that time, we learned that the sculptor Giò Pomodoro is from Orciano. One of his works is featured in the piazza in Orciano.

sculpture of curves and lines on the left and a neat and trimmed tree on the right of the photograph

sculpture of curves and lines with a view of the church tower in the background

Pomodoro had a brother, Arnaldo Pomodoro, who is also a sculptor. We had not made the connection before, but Arnaldo is the sculptor behind The Great Sphere that is displayed in Pesaro (which can be seen in our 2018 trip report).

If you want to see more of Orciano, you can check out our page from 2018.

Another repeat visit for us was Cerasa. From our understanding, Paul's great-great-grandfather moved from Cerasa to Sant'Angelo in Lizzola. Cerasa is located between Mondavio and Fano. We noticed that some of the downtown residents had come up with a creative solution when they needed more space; they expanded beyond the wall. Those little support legs barely seem strong enough to support the structure.

An old medieval wall with a concrete storage room sitting on the outside of the wall.

The plaza has less grass growing between the stones than last time. The church, which we noted last time was restored in 1992, was originally built in 1742.

Stone paving with a plain front church on the far side.

The inside of the church matches the exterior, solid and somewhat plain. An odd feature of this church is that the Stations of the Cross are all in one spot.

The aisle in the church, with the altar and cross at the end. The walls are peach and white.