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laces of art full of Leopardian echoes, pleasant and well-equipped beaches and a landscape of rolling hills characterise this route. Worth seeing: Porto Recanati, dating back to the time of Frederick II in a spot not far from the Roman colony of Potentia, the fifteenth-century Svevo Castle grew which now houses the Municipal Art Gallery; Recanati, birthplace of Giacomo Leopardi with the square and the monument dedicated to him, his memoirs conserved in the Town Hall, Palazzo Leopardi, the Civic Museum in Villa Colloredo Mels which has some significant works, including four paintings by Lorenzo Lotto, the Diocesan Museum, the Oliviero Pigini Guitar Museum and the Beniamino Gigli Museum, housed in the nineteenth century Persiani Theatre and the Church of S. Domenico (St. Dominic) with a fine white stone portal by Benedetto da Majano. Not to be missed: the imposing Montefiore Castle near Montefano; Montecassiano which has an unusual urban structure with concentric streets surrounded by stairs and is full of mediaeval and renaissance buildings; Macerata, famous for its old University, significant monuments such as the Arena Sferisterio (which houses the Macerata Opera Festival), the almost completely intact old walls which surround a series of alleyways and the 46
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43. Montecassiano 44. Morrovalle 45. Recanati 46. Macerata
old centre, the Church of La Misericordia (Church of Mercy), the Loggia del Grano (housing the university), Piazza della Libertà with the Loggia dei Mercanti, the Clock Tower, the Town Hall and the Palazzo della Prefettura (Prefecture), the eighteenth-century Lauro Rossi Theatre and precious art collections: Museo della Carrozza (Cart Museum) in Palazzo Buonaccorsi (you can also visit the Aeneid Gallery and the noble floor) and the 20th-Century Italian Collection in Palazzo Ricci. Worth making a detour to see: the Church of San Claudio al Chienti (St. Claud by the Chienti - 11th century) at Corridonia Stazione; Corridonia, the ancient Pausulae, in the interesting Parish Art Gallery where you can admire a Madonna con Bambino (Madonna and Child) by Carlo Crivelli; Mogliano, where there is a fine Madonna in Gloria e Santi (Madonna in Glory and Saints) by Lorenzo Lotto; Monte San Giusto, with Palazzo Bonafede and the Chiesa di S. Maria in Telusiano which houses the celebrated Crocifissione (Crucifixion) by Lorenzo Lotto; the ancient village of Morrovalle; the splendid Romanic Church of Santa Maria a Piè di Chienti (St. Mary at the Foot of the Chienti) at Montecosaro Stazione. Worth visiting: Civitanova Marche, a comfortable seaside resort, which has a high part Civitanova Alta, the birthplace of Annibal Caro to whom the Theatre of the same name is dedicated, characterised by town walls with towers, bulwarks, two gates, fine noble palaces, churches and the well-stocked M. Moretti Modern Art Gallery; Potenza Picena, renowned for the renaissance Villa Buonaccorsi with its splendid Italian garden.