Today is Jeanette’s birthday! She has invited Alessandra over to join us for breakfast. We take our time and chat over waffles with strawberries (Alessandra’s first ever waffles!), coffee, Juice, more coffee, ricotta tart, etc. It was a very nice way to say arrivederci to Cortona this time.

 The escalators to the parking area are still out of service… oof

 We head out of town on the road that passes Casa Fontelunga, the first place we stayed, the first time we came to Cortona, the first time we came to Italy 13 years ago… sigh.

It was a fairly easy drive through the mountains to the Le Marche region. We have been curious about this area for a long time. When we were looking at houses, the prices in Le Marche were markedly lower than Tuscany (most everywhere is) and it was touted as the “next Tuscany” after Umbria was the “next Tuscany” and the Umbrian prices pretty much caught up with Tuscany. So Ascoli Paceno here we come. We only had to stop and ask directions once (different category than wrong turns) and when we did we were only a few blocks from the B&B! The B&B is a little gate on a somewhat decrepit looking street and we are very pleased to see that once you pass through the gate, the place looks like the pictures on the internet. A beautiful view of the old city, a nice loggia and a patio on which we will have breakfast in the morning.

A.P. Is a town of about 50,000 or so and is obviously economically stressed. There is a lot of graffiti and a lot of disrepair. The old city is still a very intriguing place though and there is a lot of vitality in the shops and the piazzas. There are a lot of young people and I have never seen so many babies and children in any town in Italy.

I guess we could have waited to do our laundry here. There is a laundromat just a few steps from the B&B, it is a little old, but seems functional…

Dinner is quite good. I have a pasta with pancetta in a grappa sauce (a lot like a vodka sauce) and Donna has a pasta with “papera” and pecorino. Neither one of us know what this critter is and after eating it and studying the bones… we still don’t know. It turns out it was goose, and it was quite tasty. We are only here for one night but I am left wondering if Ascoli Piceno might turn into a destination. Of course there are no main roads anywhere near it so that’s probably going to be a problem. (and the Italian economy… but we won’t get into that.)

WiFi is a little dodgy at the B&B so I am not able to publish but that’s what happens when you stay in a place with 2 foot thick stone walls…  It’ll have to wait.