Four trips, one per valley

Since the valleys are parallel and the roads between them are few and slow, it pays to organise days by valley: go up, visit, come down. These four trips start from a campsite on the coast.

The Montefeltro and Urbino

From the Pesaro coast you climb inland and find, in a row, Gradara with the Malatesta castle, Mondavio with the fortress by Francesco di Giorgio, and finally Urbino, which in the fifteenth century was one of the most important courts in Europe and today is a Unesco site. The Ducal Palace holds the Flagellation by Piero della Francesca.

Frasassi and the Gola della Rossa

From Senigallia or Ancona you go up the Esino valley to Genga. The Frasassi caves are visited with a guide in just over an hour, the temperature inside is a constant fourteen degrees, and the first chamber would hold Milan cathedral whole. Outside, the neoclassical Valadier chapel stands inside a cave on a sheer wall.

The villages of the Piceno

From San Benedetto you climb to Ascoli Piceno, which has a square paved entirely in travertine and a Roman bridge still in use, and from there you go round Offida, which makes bobbin lace, and Acquaviva. It is the shortest and the densest trip in the region.

The Sibillini

From Civitanova you go up the Chienti to Fiastra and the Sibillini: the Lame Rosse are an hour on foot from the lake, the Infernaccio is a gorge walked on foot, and higher up you reach Castelluccio. Many villages in this area still bear the marks of the earthquake: check what is open before you set out.