Living in San Giorgio di Pesaro and Kingston

On Friday Bill, Elizabeth and I went to the south of the Marche, to a small town called Belforte del Chienti. We went to see a Polyptych in the church of St. Eustachio. This  is, apparently, the largest polyptych in Europe. It was painted in 1468 by Giovanni Boccati and remains complete in its original frame. (When Napoleon controlled Italy he had wanted to take it back to France but the local priest had taken the painting to pieces and had hidden it in the roof of the church.)

From San Giorgio we went by motorway to Citanova Marche and then travelled inland to Belforte which is just beyond Tolentino. It is a beautiful little village (below left). The church is in the small central piazza and is open in the mornings and afternoons. When we went in we couldn’t find the light switch to illuminate the painting. However, in the main square there is a small tourist office/proloco which was open. (Afterwards I noticed a notice on the door giving various telephone numbers of people who will open the church if the tourist office is closd). The young man on duty came across, switched on the light and then explained who the various figures in the painting were. Having travelled an hour and a half to get to the church I am glad to report that it was well worth the effort.

In the town square there is also a bar which was unfortunately closed as we had arrived on the feast day of Saint Eustachio. However, although we didn’t get a cup of coffee the guide from tourist office had mentioned in passing that coming to the church on the saints feast day got rid of all sins.
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Erika and Thomas had been telling us about the fields of wild flowers up on Monte Petrano near Cagli. So on Sunday we went with Anne from Mondavio and Nick a friend of Anne’s. We went up in the morning as the weather forecast was for heavy rain in the afternoon.

We made it to Cagli but missed the sign for the short, good road up to the summit of Monte Petrano and instead took the long bad road. So instead of getting to the top of the mountain in five minutes we arrived 45 minutes later having passed some fantastic scenery but not seeing much of it as we tried to manouvre the car round the potholes in the road. 

The summit of Monte Petrano is not a peak but a plateau and if Sunday was a typical day then cool and windy. In spring the fields are covered in wild flowers. Early in the year there are crocusus but at the moment it is covered with buttercups, orchids and beautiful wild narissi. When we arrived the visibility was bad  and so we didn’t see across to Tuscany but we did see lots of wild flowers. The nice thing is that although there are a few paths it is OK to walk across the fields and enjoy the flowers.

Can’t believe a year has passed since the last Colle Maratona – the marathon run from Barchi to Fano. There were 1,021 entrants this year. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and probably not ideal for at least 3 hours of running.

As last year it was an African who was in front when they reached San Giorgio. In second place was a north African. (When talking to some friends about the blog entry I said I could call it “The Future of Italy” as with lots of immigrants arriving from Africa in recent months people are concerned about the impact on Italy’s future and if the immigrants are winning the Barchi to Fano Marathon where will it all end.)

Normally the event passes uneventfully but this year there was a fall. The road past our house is on a nasty slope and the road surface is not the best. A group of runners were passing by and suddenly one fell. Not sure if it was the road surface or if he had touched one of the other runners but he went flying to the ground and when he struggled up his shoulder and leg were badly scraped.

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Here  in the Marche when approaching a town you are often confronted with a sign telling you why the town is famous. None go as far as saying “Town of wine, women and song” but simple statements such as San Michael the “town of the parks” or Cartoceto the “town of olive oil”.

We went to Cattolica last week for the “Cattolica in Flower Festival”. There were no signs on the approach to Cattolica but we wouldn’t have been surprised is it had annonced itself as the “city of fountains” as scattered throughout the town are various fountains each of different size and beauty but no doubt all of them memorials to ex mayors who wanted to have his name remembered by future generations.

We went to the festival not expecting very much as last year we had been to the “Fano in Flower Festival”. Fortunately when they say Cattolica in Flower they mean Cattolica in flower as 5 or 6 of the main streets were full of market stalls selling potted plants. We bought some jasmine, some rhubarb (the first time I had seen it for sale in Italy) and 14 Busy Lizzies for 10 euros. I was slightly disappointed that there weren’t many stalls sellling shrubs but overall it was a really good show. Extra bonuses were the weather which was warm and sunny despite the forecast for cool, dull weather. Another bonus was the nice cafes were you could relax between visiting the market stalls and finally we found a very nice fish restaurant which looked rather uninviting from the outside but they had very friendly staff and served good fish.