Consider the Marche - There's Saffron, You Know!

Consider the Marche - There's Saffron, You Know! · Mar 18, 09:19 AM by James Martin

Urbino lovers I love the Marche. Well, maybe not as much as those people over there on the left—found bolted to a museum wall in Urbino—love each other, but still…

This morning floating in the twitter stream comes word of an interesting proposal. You can get lodging in the Marche and learn how folks grow and harvest the crocus sex organs which become saffron. See here. You’ll be in the shadows of a great town hardly anybody visits, Urbino, as sensuous a city as has ever been discovered.

Driving around the Marche is a great experience. Unlike Tuscany, there aren’t a lot of gaping tourists insisting on owning the road so they can take pictures from the car window because getting out would waste precious moments of their vacation, so they waste yours.

There are lots of interesting towns and medieval villages you can discover by just driving through. Get a good map like Touring Club Italiano-Marche and Umbria Map which you can easily buy over the internet, and get going. Take the small roads. That’s what regions like the Marche are all about.

If you end up in Piobbico, then you’ve come across the headquarters of the Ugly Club. Yes, Club dei Brutti, via Dante Alighieri, 25 and even the door is ugly.

——-

For bonus Italy content, and to interact with us, see our facebook page.

Consider the Marche - There's Saffron, You Know! originally appeared on WanderingItaly.com Mar 18, 2010, © James Martin,