We had a nice overnight with friends to Senigallia. It is an easy drive. About 1.5 hours if you don’t stop anywhere. We planned some visits to wineries along the way so it took longer. Most of the trip, outside Umbria, was in Le Marche. A pretty region similar in landscape to Umbria except for the proximity to the Adriatic.
Our first target was Matelica. The landscapes and views are beautiful. It’s agricultural and also pretty mountainous. They’re are lots of wineries. They make primarily Verdicchio which is a nice white wine. If you find a good producer, it can be very complex. We chose ColleStefano. A nice property. All the wineries are in the middle of the harvest and the crush so we had a bit of trouble visiting them. We bought a case of the Verdicchio and a few Rosati (Rosé).
Our next goal was finding a place to have the picnic we brought. We visited another winery. We could purchase, but not taste because the family was busy with the harvest. No place to picnic.
Off we went towards Senigallia. No picnic tables to be found. Finally along the Lungomare, the sea coast, we found a small park with a table. The town is quite empty. Quiet. We checked into our hotel, TerrazzoMarconi. Our view.
The evening was a fancy dinner at a Michelin 3 star restaurant Uliassi. Seafood. It sits right on the beach. It was sprinkling as we walked to dinner. We had to wait a bit for the doors to open. Here are a few pictures.
A nice evening.
Thursday morning. We had a nice if surprising breakfast. Buffets have disappeared since the advent of Covid. We had seen none until today when they had a completely open buffet. No glass covers over the food or anything. No restaurants in the Marche took our temperature or contact info. I suppose all the regions have their own rules. We even had a mini-bar, also a thing of the past since Covid.
Luther and I took a walk on the beach. It was hot!
We got underway and headed for another winery for a tasting and to purchase. This one was near Jesi.
After our nice tasting we headed for Fabriano and lunch. There is good news. And there is bad news. We arrived and parked and walked to our intended restaurant. They were closed. So we went to a small piazza not far away where there was a nice bar. So we settled in and ordered lunch. The bad news was, the food was awful. I can’t remember when I’ve gotten such bad food in Italy.
The town of Fabriano is known since the 1300s as a primo paper making city. They are even a UNESCO heritage site for this to this day. I love this city. Here are some pictures.
It was a fun little giro. I must keep in mind that the sea is very accessible and go more often.
We are enjoying a semblance of normalcy. After what we went through people are careful here for the most part. The young people, not so much. They are invincible as we all know 😏 Is your daughter married to an Italian? Or does she just stay less than 90 days.
Happy anniversary! Maybe next year will be better!
That all sounds amazing. I miss going out. Anyplace. It was our 38th anniversary the other day and I asked Hubby if he wanted to go out to eat or somewhere but he said no way.
LOL, I remember going to one restaurant in Ragusa. Hubby got some sort of pasta and the sauce was so sweet, he couldn’t eat it and my lamb chops were so tough, it was like chewing shoe leather.
My daughter is in Sicily now. Did Mt Etna today. I think they are going to find a spot to stay for a bit. Get a long term Airbnb. She has to go back to working from home (or whereever they land) starting Thursday. After that, she is making no plans. Said something about chasing the summer. Damn, to be young and free and actually have the $$$ to do that.
Hi Pietro,
I know they close for something like 4 months from December. That is when they create an entirely new menu for next year. They reopen in Spring. I doubt they’d serve anything that wasn’t perfect there. Seeing as they’ve got three stars they have to be perfect 🙂. I don’t think it matters the time of year you go.
They have the very big tasting menu. Then a 6 course menu chosen entirely by the chef and finally a la carte. We did 3 a la carte courses each. The before dinner gifts from the chef were amazing. Everyone loved all their meals except for me. I loved my antipasto. Shrimp in citrus sauce. I didn’t love my pasta in an oyster sauce. Not wild about the sauce. And the sea bass was good but not up to what I expected. I’m the only one who felt this way though. It could have been my choices too I suppose.
Hello Nancy, how was the Uliassi? I am interested as I am supposed to try being there soon, but I was rold by someone that the place, being seafood, is also quite seasonal, and is at its best in summer or later in winter.
Hi Dave. As I said in the post, we hardly ever get bad food here. I’d out my percentages at 95/5. It was a surprise. Fabriano is not a quiet town except during pausa. Almost all towns are dead between 1-4 in the afternoon for lunch an a rest. We were the only ones out. I guess it was about 2:30. Before we lived here I did’nt understand and wondered why everything was so dead.😁
So a good meal at a 3 star restaurant and then, not so good. There’s good and bad everywhere but I would imagine in most of Italy it’s at least 80/20 for the good. Fabriano looks like quiet town, but nice. Reminds me of our lunch stop in San Quirico d’Orcia last year in our way to Montepulciano. We had a good lunch there. Sounds like a good trip overall though.
Hi Marjorie. It is hard to imagine Italians could get this so wrong. Four of us got something here. Only one was OK and that was a salad with tuna from a can in it. Can’t mess up a salad. I ordered maccherini with fresh vegetables of the season. I was served angel hair pasta with canned peas and other, not green, veggies cooked to mush. They did not taste good, and definitely not fresh. One got the lamb and potatoes. He said the lamb was not good. The last person got the Pranzo Contadini, farmers lunch. Came with some meat that was so overcooked the outside was like leather. All you could eat was the interior. There was a small pile of spaghetti which he said tasted a lot like chef Boyardee. And some potatoes in their skins which were shriveled up from sitting and waiting to be served. What can I say? It was bad! I should’ve taken pictures 🙂
Thanks again for sharing your car trip with all the lovely pictures and straightforward descriptions. I have a question; when you say the food is “bad”- does that mean without flavor, or isn’t fresh or processed or other? Just curious how someone can botfh the food there.