Experience the best of Pesaro

Pesaro faces the Adriatic with a wide beach of fine sand backed by promenades and a sculpture, Arnaldo Pomodoro's Sfera Grande, a large bronze sphere on the seafront. The composer Gioachino Rossini was born here in 1792, and his birthplace is a museum, while an opera festival in his name fills the theatres in August. The central Piazza del Popolo has a fountain and the Ducal Palace, once the seat of the Della Rovere family.

The city museums hold Pesaro's majolica, painted ceramics famous since the Renaissance, and the cathedral has an early Christian mosaic floor. The Monte San Bartolo nature park rises north of the city, with sea cliffs and walking paths above the coast, and Gradara, a walled hill town, is not far. Urbino, birthplace of Raphael, lies inland across the hills, and Rimini is a short way up the coast.

Brodetto, a fish soup of the Adriatic, and grilled sardines are the staples of the waterfront, with the pasta of the Marche and Bianchello del Metauro, a light white wine from the hills behind the city. The beaches are busiest from June to August.