Nowadays the typical example of the landscape of the countryside in the region Marche, which is notoriously represented in portraits of Dukes of Montefeltro in the paintings by Piero della Francesca or in frescoes by Raphael, is to find rising upon the hills driving from the Adriatic coast on the back,
and the several buildings that were built without urban regulation since the Sixties of the Twentieth century along the coast and all of a sudden you find yourself into the landscape that inspired poet Giacomo Leopardi and his idea of “The Infinite”, that is to say a landscape overviewing the immense countryside between light and dark hills at the sunset, numerous and uncountable indeed. That landscape that did not change much, compared to the change that underwent on the coastal area
Casolare dei Girasoli. The location is extremely wide open, with a stunning view over the surrounding hills with many olive trees.
Leopardi wrote: “Sad is the life that simply sees, hears, and feels objects that only the eyes, ears, and other senses register”.
Happy – we would say – are those who lose themselves in a space/time dimension that go beyond the metaphysical, travelling from North to South in this stunning and magical landscape, leaving apart the geographical map or the digital navigation device, letting the morphology of the territory drive you, by its gentle bends, by its ups and downs, its breaks, sudden and surprising glimpses of never seen before places as if we would be dazed, and soon we try to find orientation, for those who got narrative and artistic inspiration, since our sensorial perception broadens: this is Leopardi’s “losing into the other sea”, a green sea, where you might also drown.
In the past travelers who visited the region Marche also by foot. This is what Johann Gottfried Seume wrote about the countryside surrounding Recanati and Loreto: “districts are a fertility paradise and angels are very judicious since they couldn’t leave the House in the Promised Land, it flew from Dalmatia to this place”. While Urbino and its “Atlante Castle” (The Palazzo Ducale) remind me of ancient paths of the peninsula that once were the connection roads for several Signoria and Princedoms, sometimes its seems you can see Duke Federico riding a horse, wearing his armor, accompanied by his horsemen army who rises the hill back from battles or political meditation. Exceptional tests – even though riding a carriage – were also Montaigne, Deseine, Stendhal, Goethe and Mommsen who writes about how cosmopolitan is the free harbor of the City of Ancona, where Jewish, Schiavoni, Greeks, Turks, a unique place in Italy at that time according to him where “foreigners are not looked at”.
Ancona and its territory is the only place where “green sea” and “blue sea” actually meet, thanks to the Mount behind the city, untouched and precious land protected under the regional park regulations.
There are many legendary stories about this magical place, alter ego of the Sibilla, also giving the name to the Monti Azzurri, i.e. the Sibillini Mountains.
In both places, it’s beautiful to get lost. Rising the top of the Mount Conero you can see the coast of Croatia, and on the opposite side you can see the whole region Marche until the Mountains.
“Identity is a social gift” wrote Galimberti “and it’s the result of acknowledgment”. If that’s true we might also say that the region Marche only recently have acknowledged their self-conscious, thanks to the desire to show itself to everyone in the world, with its landscape, economical and social engine of the region, since its inhabitants feel that they belong to the landscape and identify themselves with it, and those who leave are usually homesick and suffering from nostalgia.
The people of Marche fi tinto the countryside landscape, they melt together, they are the result of a social and cultural construction, they were born and grow together. But also everyone who pays a visit for the first time and looks around and lives here, can feel that this is their own place: familiarity is surprisingly a main feature here. It helps security and creativity, “beauty sharpens intellect” wrote Gregorio Leto.
Such paradise risks to be touched by Man who doesn’t resemble beauty and history of this land. Man likes unambiguous places, fitting into the international way of all other touristic places without thinking that its peculiar feature, even formal, also architectural, which safeguards from the passing of time. This mixture of cultures is beautiful, except when you risk losing your own culture; this would be a disaster for the landscape that has been preserved up to now.
Ancona and its territory is the only place where “green sea” and “blue sea” actually meet, thanks to the Mount Conero behind the city
Casale dell’Angelo, A farmhouse immersed into the stunning countryside surrounding Jesi
When you love your cultural identity is not desirable nowadays, the world is becoming an immense “melting pot” of traditions and styles. Elements of beauty and simplicity could be forgotten and they have distinguished our society up to now, and millions of tourists still come to pay a visit. Those elements are shown in some kind of open-air museums, some kind of Disneyland with players (ever seen fake centurions in Rome?), building are destroyed to “wear” an international and fresher look, without thinking that in a few years’ time, everything iWill look similar to each other, and we will only travel for boredom. A rootless cultural and agricultural Amechania, indeed.
