Exploring the city Jesi and Marche region
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The city Jesi is situated in a beautiful region with a scenery, that could be a post card. Here, we met simple, but honest and thoughtful people; we saw many places, no matter how hot it was outside.
After we had said goodbye to the fine sand, the warm water and the people we met in Viserbella, we started our journey to the next destination on our list. Early in the morning, we took a bus to Rimini and a train to the city Jesi, a small town not far away from Ancona. At the central station, Alina’s friend awaited us with her family. They brought us to their home, where we left our luggage; then, we went out to dinner.
Authentic pizza in Monte Roberto
Alina’s friend took us to a superb pizzeria in Monte Roberto, a village 15 kilometres (9.32 miles) away from Jesi. If you’re ever in that area, go enjoy a good pizza, have a glass of wine and enjoy the beautiful view. The pizzeria is up on a hill and you can look down on the entire village — what a site to behold. During summers, the terrace is always full, so be sure to make a reservation or show up early. The atmosphere is really authentic; the pizza is, of course, tasty; it’s thin, crispy and served with fresh ingredients.
Address: Conte Max, Via Roma 1, 60030, Monte Roberto
Wandering around Jesi’s historic city centre
The following day, we woke up early and went to visit the centre of the city Jesi.
In 1130, Jesi was an independent village, slowly growing into the neighbouring rural area. Here, the holy roman emperor Frederic the 2nd was born, also the composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.
The city is well-known for its medieval centre, surrounded by huge defensive walls, built in the 14th century. The old walls are massive and have impressive towers and gates; the most important one is Montirozzo in the East. The historic city centre is well preserved, it has beautiful buildings, narrow streets filled with potted flowers and many places to relax. All main roads are usually filled with locals, who left their house to go shopping or are looking for a place to eat.
The oldest market in the city Jesi is Piazza Federico II, where the emperor was born. Today, it’s a nice place with many important buildings.
One of them is the cathedral San Settimio, named after its founder. The cathedral has been rebuilt in recent years and has only been finalised in the 19th century. Inside, you’re greeted with a high, elegant interior, filled with many paintings and objects from past centuries. Nearby Piazza Federico II is Palazzo della Signoria, a building made by Francesco di Giorgio Martini. Today, it’s a museum and a library with an impressive interior courtyard.
The by far oldest building in the city Jesi is Chiesa di San Nicoló, which has been built in the 12th Century. The church has been renovated in the 20th century while preserving the Roman and Gothic elements.
Address: Corso Giacomo Matteotti, 60035 Jesi
Another important and quite busy market is Piazza della Repubblica. If your journey brings you here, you should visit the opera house Teatro Comunale Gianbattista Pergolesi, the only building giving this market a scenic beauty. It has been built in 1790 and was fully restored in 1995. To this day, it remains one of the few opera houses in Italy that hasn’t been bombed or destroyed otherwise during the war.
Besides the opera house, the city Jesi is also known for its museums and art galleries. We chose, however, not to visit any of them. Instead, we spent as much time as possible outside. For our next visit, we promised ourselves to visit the art gallery Palazzo Pianetti.
Tasty food and ice-cream in the city Jesi
Wandering around the city Jesi in July meant that we had to go out in the morning or evening because it was too hot at noon and stores closed anyway due to the siesta. The Italian sun browned our skin and we enjoyed many ice-creams to cool us off. In the historic city centre, there are quite a few shops to visit, restaurants offering delicious food and also cafes waiting for you to taste delicious Italian coffee. Most people we met understood English perfectly fine, so you shouldn’t have any communication problems.
One of the places that stuck with us was Trattoria della Fortuna. It doesn’t have a menu, so you have to ask the waiter what food they have that day. We ate ravioli with truffles and pasta arrabbiata; as dessert, we chose tiramisu and fruit ice-cream. If you visit in the evening, take a seat on the terrace and enjoy the beautiful view. When we visited, the staff didn’t speak English very well, but we understood the offer off the day, nonetheless.
Address: Via Arco del Soccorso 1, 60035 Jesi
Another great place we remember is Gelateria Magie with its semifreddo (semi-frozen) desserts. Take a seat inside or outside after a long walk and enjoy the goodies this ice-cream shop has to offer.
Address: Viale della Vittoria 107/B, 60035 Jesi
Taking the train to other destinations
When we didn’t visit the city Jesi, we went to the train station and bought tickets to nearby destinations. We liked Ancona a lot, also Grotte di Frasassi. You can find the cave 37 kilometres (23 miles) away in the town Genga, where it has been found in 1971.
The tour through the cave takes around an hour and the guide explains all the formations in detail. One ticket costs 18 Euros; in July and August, you can enter the cave until 5:15 pm. The rest of the year, it closes earlier at 3:35 pm. To get to the cave, go from the train station to the nearby parking lot and take a bus; get off at the station called S.Vittore Terme.
If you want to return to Jesi or move on to any other city by train and the ticket machine doesn’t work, turn back and take a right turn down the street. There should be a little shop selling train tickets a few metres down the road on the left side.