Jesi’s Castles
Time and Memory
The landscape in the Marches region is marked by vineyards, alternating with olives and grain. All this makes up the Verdicchio land. Playing a leading role in these lands are the Jesi Castles, located in the oldest Verdicchio production area. Apiro, Arcevia, Belvedere Ostrense, Castelbellino, Castelplanio, Cingoli, Cupramontana, Maiolati Spontini, Mergo, Monteroberto, Montecarotto, Morro d'Alba, Poggio San Marcello, Rosora, San Paolo di Jesi, San Marcello, Serra de' Conti, Serra San Quirico and Staffolo form a large walled belt around the royal city: Jesi. The Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi production region also includes, however, the areas of the municipalities of Barbara, Castelleone di Suasa, Corinaldo, Ostra, Ostra Vetere and Senigallia.
The walls of the various Jesi Castles are all similar, aiming to afford a form of defence against dangers, both from the sea and from the people of the north, but also from fighting between the large families who shared this region of Italy. The Jesi Castles have been preserved with great care and contain fine churches and palaces. In addition, in more than half of them there is one of the famous theatres of the Marches, small gems built between the 1700s and 1800s, a real Scala Theatre in miniature. Each agglomeration had its own county, each Abbey had its own agricultural relevance and in each one there were, and still are, Verdicchio vineyards. This grapevine has, indeed, always been the marker of the land, the people’s livelihood, pride of these lands. Verdicchio comes, in fact, from lands in the Aesina Republic, founded by the emperor Frederick II, defined “Stupor mundi et immutator mirabilis”.