Novafeltria

In the heart of the mid-Marecchia valley, in a largely flat area, this is a fairly new municipality that was established in 1907 and is now one of its main commercial and industrial towns.

Its original name was Mercatino Marecchia, which referred to the important weekly markets held there. In 1942 this changed to Novafeltria to recall that it was historically part of the ancient region of Montefeltro and to link it to the idea of renewal. Its origins are distant and vague; an early inhabited nucleus dates from 1000 when the parish church of San Pietro in Culto was built during evangelization of the Montefeltro. Elegant Piazza Vittorio Emanuele overlooked by 17th-century Palazzo dei Conti Segni, now home to the town hall, boasts a Romanesque treasure – the Oratory of St. Marina.

The entire municipal area is interesting, with a few outlying villages well worth visiting. These include Perticara, which is surrounded by a pine forest on one of the slopes of Mount Aquilone and was an important mining centre. Sulphur was extracted in ancient times, but the main vein was only exploited from 1917 onwards. It employed 1,600 men in what became an underground city with 100km of tunnels on 9 different levels. The activity ceased in 1964 and this had a devastating effect on life in the village and the thriving community of 5,000 residents, which had once boasted a theatre and cinema and had set up a Carnival society, town band and football team that played in the Italian third division. The Sulphur Museum keeps alive the memory of these past times. The area around Mount Aquilone is popular with hang-gliders and also offers delightful walks, through pine forests and chestnut woods, a poetic installation by Tonino Guerra called the Green Zoo and an adventure park for all the family called Skypark. In Perticara, the rocky cliffs are popular with free climbing enthusiasts.