Corinaldo
North of is a remarkably pretty fortified hill town, all dating from medieval era. It has some of the best-preserved 15thC defensive walls in the Marche. Walk along long stretches of the battlements and admire the sweeping views.

It is worth wondering up and down the narrow stepped streets, and visiting the shrine to St Maria Goretti, the town's own 20thC saint, murdered in 1902 at the age of 12 by a would-be rapist whom she resisted. She was canonized in 1950 as a martyr.

The town is in Verdicchio wine country and the local cooperative winery, Val di Nevola, produces some excellent value bottles. A polenta festival is held on third Sunday in July to commemorate the time when the town's people successfully resisted a siege thanks to copious supplies of the stuff.