Today was another beautiful day – clear blue skies, 80°F, low humidity. Around 11:00 we left our apartment and headed through the center of Senigallia, south along the beach road, and towards a restaurant we spotted earlier in the week. The “strip” was packed. The beach clubs were full of sunbathers and paddleball players, the sidewalks were crowded with people out for a walk, many with dogs or strollers, and the bike lane was just as busy. We arrived at Antica Trattoria da Marion well before the 13:00 lunch crowd and sat outside under their canopy for lunch. This was also a Wi-Fi spot, so after placing our pizza orders we checked our email and Facebook. The pizzas were the best we’d had since arriving in Italy – just like I make at home on most Sundays.
Ok. We all know that Europe is just like the U.S., only slightly different. When we were here in 2011 I blogged about some of these differences. It’s time to add a few more to the list.
1. Italians peel their pesche, or peaches. When we were in Torre Orsina we noticed that everyone peeled the fuzzy skin off of their peaches before eating them. Their peaches are just like the ones in the U.S. with the same fuzz. They just don’t eat the skin. This doesn't apply to nectarines, only peaches. Why Senigallia? We’ve been asked this question a lot – both here in Italy and back home from family and friends as we were planning our trip. Well, why is this city even here in the first place? Just like New Orleans on the Mississippi river, Senigallia sits at the bend of the Misa River just off the Adriatic coast, so it’s a perfect location to defend against enemy naval attacks. The first structure built here was the fortress. It was built in the 1360’s, first a single tower, then a second forming a wall to defend the city from invasions from both up and down the Misa, and finally 2 more towers were added in the late 1400’s to protect against Turkish land-based raids, giving the fortress its distinctive shape.
I had mentioned having a dinner with Maria Giulia that featured the local black summer truffles in an earlier blog. Let me run through the menu for you now.
Word was out that Cinzia loves truffles. Fabianna had given her one large one, then 5 smaller ones, as a gift. Elda had made truffle pasta with the first and truffle risotto with the rest. Maria Giulia was not to be outdone. This morning we awoke early. Last evening we set the alarm clock on our tablet for 07:00 thinking that we would walk to the city center to see the morning fish market. Someone had told us that we could get good fish there. We arrived as planned, but the center of the foro is filled with its usual cast of produce vendors and the old fish market is empty. The big slab tables under the roofed in area are vacant. Did we miss it or simply misunderstand what someone was trying to tell us?
On a bright and clear Monday morning we decided to take a walk south along the beach road past the marina. South of the marina is where the pedestrian walkways are larger, the beach clubs bigger, and the concentration of eateries, bars, and hotels increases.
The marina is designed for fishing vessels and has several sections of protected docks. Some small boats were unloading the morning’s catch. The Adriatic is full of shellfish – primarily cozze (mussels) and vongole (clams), but also has plenty of smaller fish, shrimp, and squid. Blue net sacks containing hundreds and hundreds of tiny clams and whelks were being unloaded. Most of the men on the boats looked to be foreigners from North Africa, Pakistan, or elsewhere in the Middle East. It’s overcast today, so we decided to head over to the beach just to hop on the Internet at Bagni 16. We set up under their large tent only to find that they have shut down their Wi-Fi. Some of the nearby beach clubs still have theirs activated, but we don’t know the password. We find a weak signal from the new hotel across the street and are happy to find that it is not secured. We log in and find that it’s slow. Perhaps our days of Wi-Fi are numbered here in Senigallia. Franco’s dad is busy dismantling and cleaning. A while later we see Franco’s wife who confirms what we already know, that their Wi-Fi is turned off for the season. We tell her we’re using the signal from the new hotel. She’s surprised, but says that they have a wedding this weekend then will probably close down for the season.
Thursday is market day in Senigallia. The market offers both food items and dry goods. The porticos of old Senigallia are lined with vendors selling clothing, kitchen items, table linens, and all sorts of other items. The fruit, vegetables, cheeses and meats are all sold in the round piazza. We cross the river Misa over one of the old stone bridges to access the old center of Senigallia. After Cinzia grabs a caffé in a pasticceria we work our way through the crowds crammed under the porticos and find our way into the piazza where the food vendors have set up their stalls.
On Monday, we arrived at the beach in search of a beach club that offered the wider lounge chairs, but instead we found many of the beach clubs dismantling. Chairs were being brought in, pressure washed, and stacked for storage. We knew that school started today, but thought that the beach clubs would remain open until it became too cold for customer. We asked around and found that the beach clubs had to have everything off the beach by 1 Oct, so they started today. We walked back to Bagni 17 where we had stayed before and were told that they were closed for the season, but that Bagni 16 was still opened, so we went next door and met Franco.
It’s Sunday. The skies are clear and blue. It’s a beach day.
We head out of our apartment around 10:30am and make our way to the beach. In our beach bag we’ve got a couple small beach towels, sun screen, books, Euros, camera, and our tablets. The beach here in Senigallia very long and filled with “beach clubs”, or bagni, that offer chairs and umbrellas, plus an assortment of food, drinks, novelty gelato, tables, showers, bathrooms, changing rooms, bocce, volleyball, paddleball, toys for the kids, and Wi-Fi. We decide to give Bagni 32 “Sandra”a try. |