Fossombrone: town of history, art, nature.

Fossombrone, in the Metauro Valley, is 25 km from the sea and is definitely worth a visit, to admire as well as the city with its fifteenth century buildings also the archaeological excavations along Via Flaminia in the Archaeological Park Forum Sempronii, an ancient settlement of the city where termal baths, buildings, arcades and part of the city walls are emerged

The Archaeological Park Forum Sempronii is located in San Martino del Piano in Fossombrone.

La Gola del Furlo

This park runs through the towns of Acqualagna, Cagli, Fermignano, Fossombrone and Urbino, and presents a rich review of flora and fauna, as well as formative activity and training.
Within the reserve you can do many excursions and follow different paths, thanks to the Museum of the Territory, which offers exploratory paths guided through the use of audio-guides, making more autonomous, interesting and informative the discovery of the area.
During the several paths you can find sites of anthropologic, geologic, floristic and wildlife interest.

Main sites of historical and architectural interest:

• Impressive Roman walls ,retaining structure of the  Flaminia way, built with Furlo stones to secure the road from the River Candigliano;
• Enel dam ,originally built from 1918 to 1922, was destroyed in World War II and rebuilt in 1952. Majestic structure that changed the river bed Candigliano creating an artificial lake.
• The Tunnel of Vespasian Roman, work built by Emperor Vespasian, remains one of the most impressive Roman works almost intact, which allowed him to solve the problem of reaching Rome through the Via Flaminia.
• The profile of the “Duce”, made on Mount Pietralata with dry stone walls of local stone. Created in 1936 by the Militia forestry as a tribute to the Duce in that period often journeyed to the Gola del Furlo passage to Rome. Today’s profile is seen barely because of the weather and wear, but still worth a visit.
• Sanctuary of Pelingo Acqualagna, at the slopes of Mount Pietralata, an interesting religious building that is remarkable both for the beauty of the place and for the religious importance: in fact it was believed of having been scene of some miracles, and so became a pilgrimage site.

Main sites of wildlife interest:

• Fauna of the river: at the public park “La Golena” you can see herons, egrets, kingfishers and cormorants.
• Fauna of rocky environments made of steep walls and niches, just as the Gola del Furlo: it is the ideal habitat of large predators such as golden eagle, peregrine falcon, kestrel, alpine swift and crag.
• Fauna of the water, in the Candigliano river there is a rich fish fauna consists of carp, chub and barbel.
• The pond at the Cà Fabbri is a lovely pond, meeting place of many wild animals, including wild boar (very present even in the beech forest on Mount Paganuccio), wolves, foxes and deer, to name some.
• The golden eagle visible from Rifugio Furlo: on the vertical wall of Mount Paganuccio you can admire the permanent pair of golden eagles, majestic predators with a wingspan of up to 2.40 meters!

Curiosities

• Did you know that on Mount Paganuccio is an old oak tree? It is an oak with an age between three and four centuries. It is the Quercione Cà Bargello.
• A symbol of the reserve is undoubtedly the golden eagle, because of its long presence on Mount Paganuccio, in fact a pair of this eagles lived for  almost forty years and  in 2011 gave birth to an eaglet, mascot of the reserve and easily admirable in one of the his three nests on Mount Paganuccio.
• The reserve hosts lots of truffle ground, because the environment is more conducive to the development of these tasty tubers. In fact you can find white truffle, winter black, “scorzone”, precious black and summer black.

The Information Point Reserve is located in Flaminia street, for information: [email protected]  or  0721700041. The Information point remains open daily from March 1 to November 15, and every morning and some afternoons during the remaining months.

Acqualagna

If you love truffles you have to make a stop at Acqualagna, particularly during the National Truffle Fair which is held every year between late October and early November: during this three weekends you can taste and buy the precious tuber, and it the most important event of central Italy dedicated to truffle.
Acqualagna is not only food and wine but also history and culture: it is the birthplace of Enrico Mattei and nowadays his childhood home is a museum.