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Marche Voyager Marche Places | Visso

Visso

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*See this page for information on earthquake damage in 2016 in this area.

This small town is one of the architectural delights of the southern Marche, yet it is so far off the tourist track as hardly ever to excite much interest.

Visso

Driving through Porta Santa Maria, we enter Piazza Capuzi, an intimate triangular square of medieval stuccoed buildings, with both rounded and pointed gothic arches and stone corbels, presided over by the Palazzo dei Governatori. Across the way, to the left, in the adjoining Piazza Martiri Vissani is the splendid romanesque-gothic collegiate church of Santa Maria, its beautiful main portal flanked by two carved lions.

Inside the church, you'll find a gigantic 14th century fresco of Saint Christopher with an almost pagan stare to it, which looms up nearly to touch the coffered ceiling. Admire also the romanesque baptistery in the rear corner of the nave with a pair of magnificent 14th century carved stone sarcophagi.

Back in the square, several shops sell cured meats for which this area is famous. These include the soft pork salami, ciauscolo, , and coglioni di asino (donkey meat and called coglioni - testicles - only because of the shape).

 



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