Staffolo

Staffolo rises to 442 meters on a hill between the Esino, Misa and Musone valleys, thirty-five kilometers from Ancona. The town calls itself the Balcone della Vallesina for the panoramic ridge it stands on, and Colle del Verdicchio for the vines that cover the south-facing slopes around it. Verdicchio cultivation here is documented from 1569; the surrounding Castelli di Jesi DOCG zone draws from south-facing parcels between 220 and 500 meters of altitude.

The centro storico is almost circular, walled with partly original ramparts and entered through two opposing gates; the fourteenth-century Albornoz tower rises above the walls. The Museo dell'Arte del Vino, carved into rooms inside the walls themselves, holds an oak press from 1695 and the working tools of the local cellars, with an enoteca attached. Three churches anchor the village: Sant'Egidio with a fifteenth-century Master of Staffolo polyptych, San Francesco with a 1769 Callido organ, and the baroque Santa Maria di Castellaretta built by survivors of the Battle of Lepanto.