Casa Fontanelle is a beautifully restored traditional farmhouse in the foothills of the Sibillini mountains of Italy's Le Marche region. Its unique situation at the end of a white road just half a mile outside the pretty, bustling village of Sant'Angelo in Pontano offers seclusion combined with convenience. The house is stylishly furnished, and there is plenty of room to laze around the 10m by 4m swimming pool and enjoy the simply stunning views to the mountains which are forever changing with the weather and the light. We love it and we hope you will too..
 House |
 Facilities |
 Pool and garden |
 Shopping and eating |
 Places to visit |
 More pictures |
| Getting there | How to book |
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The living room is cool in the summer and cosy in the winter |
The Kitchen is fully equipped with oven, hob, dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer (and plenty of cookbooks too!). |
The dining room has a table that extends to sit eight. |
There are three bedrooms (master double with en-suite shower; a double and a twin sharing an en-suite shower/bathroom). There is also room to sleep 2 in the barn (folding beds and shower provided).
The house is amply provided with bed linen, towels, pool towels, etc - no need to pay excess baggage charges to Ryanair!
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| The two sun terraces give you the chance to enjoy the sun or the shade at any time of day. | The pool is 10m by 4m; enjoy the fantastic view while sunbathing or swimming; or you can chill out with a cocktail on the submerged bench.The pool is normally open between mid May and mid September. |
The house has a swimming pool, and the land falls away rather steeply on two sides. Hedging and fencing has been added during 2003-2003 but there are some steep brick/terracotta steps so if you have a curious toddler you might like to check with us before booking.
Food in Le Marche is top quality – whether you buy from the local stalls and shops, or go down to the hypermarket near Macerata. You can find just about everything you need in the village butchers, bakers and supermarket (we haven’t found the candlestick maker yet).
There are three bars and three excellent restaurants in Sant’Angelo, and several more in the near neighbourhood. Or you can just pick up a takeaway pizza from the bakers. If you find a new restaurant, add it to our list!
Markets generally start early and finish around lunchtime. It can get busy! Clothes and shoes - especially leather - are everywhere.
| Sant’Angelo | There’s a full market on the 2nd Sunday in every month – don’t expect to be able to drive in and out! | |
| Tolentino | Every Tuesday. Excellent for shoes and fashion; enjoy an ice cream while you’re there! | |
| Macerata | Each Wednesday. Best park in the Giardini Diaz covered parking (signposted) and take the lift into town. | |
| Sarnano | Thursday. Sarnano appears to have one of the best vegetable markets in the area |
There are also weekly markets in San Ginesio, Urbisaglia and other local villages. Ascoli Piceno has a special Easter market (each Easter Sunday).
As well as the markets, why not visit the shops and factory outlets. Le Marche specialises in leather, and a visit to the Totes factory in Cassete D’Ete, or Tombolini’s near Tolentino is well worth the trip. You can pick up a leather jacket from the vast range at Mapelle outside Macerata for around £100 or so.
San Ginesio is a pretty little village with quite a history the other side of the valley - try the few restaurants or just walk around the streets and catch the views.
Macerata - as well as having the poshest shops in the area Macerata is home to the Spheristerion - where there is an open-air opera festival every summer.
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Sarnano is the nearest ski resort. In the winter it hums until well past midnight; in the summer expect to see walkers, cyclists, hill climbing rallies; we’ve even seen a police motorbike convention. Sasso Tetto is the nearest accessible mountain top behind Sarnano; it has a few ski runs, great views to the coast but it’s nippy even in the summer. |
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Porto San Giorgio has lovely sandy beaches, and plenty of fish restaurants, both on the beach and in town; it's our favourite seaside town. It's about 40 minutes drive down to the coast; you can stop off at the hilltop town of Fermo and have a look around the duomo on the way. Civitanova is nearer - just at the end of the superstrada; there are plenty of restaurants on the Lungomare Sud but the beach is a bit stony. The north beach is much nicer, but harder to get to a you have to find your way through town. |
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About 90 minutes drive takes you to the Grotte di Frasassi – one of the biggest and most spectacular set of caves in Europe. Visit the museum of papermaking and watermarks in Fabriano on your way back. |
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Assisi is a two hour drive over the mountains, but well worth it for the views over the Umbrian plain. Be sure to visit St Francis’s tomb in the Duomo. Perugia and Lake Trasimeno are a little further down the autostrada. Rimini, Urbino and the mountain-top republic of San Marino are within a couple of hours up the coastal autostrada. The Conero is a beautiful mountainous area on the coast just south of Ancona - it has the best beaches for miles and some excellent wines. |
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For more information about Le Marche, visit: http://www.le-marche.com/
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Ryanair flies daily from London Stansted to Ancona, with fares ranging from £20 to £200 return, depending on the season and the available deals (our cheapest flights so far were just 1 penny - plus taxes). Check out http://www.ryanair.com. Flight time is just over 2 hours. Best days to travel are mid week and (of course) outside school holidays.
You can also fly Ryanair from Stansted to Pescara, further south in the Abbruzzo. That adds 15 minutes to the flight from Stansted and around 50 miles to the car journey, but can be more convenient on flight times - depending on Ryanair's schedule. It is always worth
comparing prices too - sometimes when all the cheap Ancona seats have gone, low cost tickets are still available to Pescara. You can also fly to Bologna/Forli - for once Ryanair's 'out of town' airport policy works, as Forli is 30km closer than Bologna itself. Easy to get to, but it's about 100 miles further up the A14 Autostrada than Ancona. We should all see Rome and die - so international visitors in particular may prefer to pick up a car at Rome-Fiumicino or Rome-Ciampino airports. It's a 4 hour drive across the mountains. We've even flown from Venice/Treviso - it's about 400km up the coast, but worth considering if you want to see Venice. This airport is very small, but (like all the others) being worked on thanks to all the tourists that Ryanair brings in. And there are three flights a day each way (2006). |
Whatever you choose, it pays to book early!
Ancona (and all other airports) offer car hire from Hertz (who also have a deal with Ryanair) Avis, plus Maggiore and Europcar (and of course if you are brave enough you can get deals from Holiday Autos and other booking agencies). When you arrive, go straight out of the airport building and turn right - they are about 200 metres along, past the new terminal construction site.
Casa Fontanelle is no longer ours to rent out. Our new house Casa dei due Mori is not ready for rental - we think it needs a year to bed in.
Thanks to everyone who stayed at Casa Fontanelle in the past. If you're looking for somewhere else to stay, just follow the links to at www.le-marche-explorer.com.
Nigel and Jenny Thomas Monique de Veer Find us online at www.preferisco.com
To contact us:
enquiries@preferisco.com
We have always used Monique de Veer at www.le-marche-explorer.com as an rental agent:
Contrada Gualduccio 3
62026 San Ginesio (MC)
Italy
Tel. +39 (0)333 9791785
monique@le-marche-explorer.com
Copyright © 2000-2006 Nigel Thomas, preferisco.com.
