Km 35 – Altitude range: m. 365 - Start and finish: Jesi railway station
From the railway station take Via Trieste and turn left at the first roundabout. From there keep going straight ahead on Via XXIV Maggio, Via del Prato, Viale Gallodoro, Via Zara, via Valche until you meet another roundabout. Turn right and then go straight ahead at the following roundabout. After a slight ascent cross another roundabout and take Via XX Luglio, which is right in front of you. Proceed crossing another roundabout taking Via Fausto Coppi and then keep going on Via Campolungo (a small track of bicycle path) and Via degli Appennini (which has a very short part of steep ascent). Keep going on Via degli Appennini until it crosses Via Paradiso. There you turn left and proceed until you reach the Acquasanta fraction. You will be on SP17. follow the road for 4,7 km and at the roundabout turn left towards Montecarotto. After a while keep the left at the fork on SP38 (towards Montecarotto). Keep going as the landscape opens on the hills of Verdicchio. Once you cross the SP11 (Via Montecarottese), turn left (the road on the right leads, in 5 km, to Montecarotto, passing through an area that is full of grapevines and that hosts several wine factories). After a short ascent reach Località Colle del Vento, the highest point of the route. From now on you start descending until you get to Castelbellino Stazione. At the roundabout go straight ahead (towards Pianello Vallesina), and, soon as you cross the bridge, turn left and take the bicycle path that runs along the Esino river which will accompany you till Jesi. After 7 km, once crossed Pantiere and Ponte Pio, you will eventually get to Jesi. The bicycle path stops at the Via Valche roundabout, that you met at the beginning of the route. All you have to do now is to proceed backwards the initial part: Via Valche – Via Zara - Viale Gallodoro – Via del Prato – Via XXIV Maggio. At the end turn right on Via Trieste. You will find yourselves at the railway station.
The route of wheat and grapevine
Uses and traditions of the Marche region
This route is both flat and hilly (with very gentle slopes), made of bicycle paths and provincial roads with very little traffic.
The lands in the province of Ancona were forged, from a socio-economical, cultural and landscape point of view, by farming and a peculiar countryside civilization. These are indeed the lands of the mezzadria (Metayage system), that particular land tenure that since medieval times until a few decades ago has shaped the working and production (but also family and social) life of the majority of the population. The Italian mezzadria was a form of share tenancy involving payment by the cultivator (metayer) of half the annual output of the land as rent to the landowner. The obligations of the tenants were actually many more, therefore for centuries these people were essentially subject to the proprietors. Anyway, the Metayage system – where crops were allocated according to the number of labourers in each tenant family – has deeply outlined the landscape (tenured rural land) and social (scattered settlements) structure of the territory. Furthermore, farming and rural culture has undeniably influenced the way of life of all inhabitants, even those living in towns and cities, up to a few decades ago. It is, however, a culture that has quickly declined, and that nowadays is being restored by specific revival movements. Among the most charming and entertaining events, the National Festival of the Pasquella Chants takes place on the first days of January at Montecarotto. The Pasquella is a chant linked to the quest chants and ballads of winter solstice (or midwinter) and is brought from house to house as a wish for health and wealth, in exchange for a little food and wine. It thus represents a live evidence of rural culture. In order to avoid its extinction, every year the “holders of tradition” (ballad singers and musicians coming from the Marches and neighbouring regions) are summoned to Montecarotto and for a whole day entertain and involve the audience with traditional chants, ballads and improvised songs.
