The Conero Riviera
Twenty kilometres in which the Adriatic stops being sand and becomes cliff.
Between Ancona and Numana Monte Conero rises to five hundred and seventy-two metres and ends sheer in the water. It is a geological anomaly: there is nothing else like it between Trieste and the Gargano, and for twenty kilometres the Adriatic coast changes face completely. The beaches turn to white shingle, the sea bed drops away at once and the water is clear.
The regional park has protected the massif since 1987. Above are paths through the maquis and the holm oaks, below the bays: Portonovo with its brackish lake and Romanesque church, Mezzavalle reached by walking down, and the Due Sorelle, two sea stacks in front of a beach that can only be reached by boat.
How to visit it
In summer, car access to Portonovo is regulated and parking must be booked or you take the shuttle: check the current rules before setting out. Boats to the Due Sorelle leave from Numana and Sirolo; there is no way in on foot.
The campsites are few and lie in or around the park, nearly all among pines and on the slope. Outside the Conero, to the north and south, the sandy coast and the large villages resume: anyone wanting a serviced beach and full facilities stays there and comes to the Conero for the day.