Ancona holiday villa: Castelplanio

One of the highlights of our week at Villa Staffieri was splashing around in the fantastic outdoor pool on giant inflatables with the view of nearby hilltop villages and olive groves all around us.

We stayed for a week at Villa Staffieri in Castelplanio during September and the weather was beautiful. We ate some of the ripe figs from the trees in the grounds of the villa, and even some walnuts too. There was a soothing peace about the place and the most wonderful sounds. At night it was pitch black and we could hear the crickets chirping away in the still night air and we got a great sleep each night on the comfortable beds. Every bedroom had its own shower room, with a huge bath in the master bedroom. The boys had great fun playing on the soccer table and the pool table, and also watching DVD’s. Driving round the area was interesting with winding mountain roads to climb up and down and the views were stunning. We visited Jesi, Arcevia, Fabriano and Genga. All were beautiful places in their own charming way. The beach we visited was Senigallia and took us about 40 minutes. It was a great beach with lots of amenities and not busy at that time of year. It was a short walk from the beach at Senigallia into the old town area with lovely buildings and very chic shops and cafes.

We flew from Prestwick airport, 7 miles from our house - to Rome, Ciampino Airport and stayed in Rome for a couple of nights, (The Stay Inn, modern and very well placed on Via del Corso) then we went back to the airport and hired a car from there driving through the mountains to the other side of Italy to Villa Staffieri. It was hard at first getting used to the motorways and then the winding and steep hillside road up to the hilltop village of Castelplanio at the end of the journey but we got used to the driving fairly quickly and a sat nav made it a bit easier to get places.

The house had basic food stuffs like olive oil, salt, pepper, teabags and also basic necessities like toilet paper, washing up liquid etc. and there was a welcome pack on arrival including wine, biscuits, cheese, bananas and Cola. The house also had a hairdryer so no need to take that and towels are provided. One thing to note is that the local pizzeria is shut all day Monday and not open in the evenings till about 8pm. We went there twice and found it to be very reasonably priced with great pizzas and salads. We visited the Frasassi Caves and they were absolutely wonderful, we recommend a trip there.

The villa is just beautifully restored as it says on the details. It was really well equipped and it seemed that everything had been thought of for all our needs. The pool is just amazing. The only problem was getting the children out of the pool - they loved it so much. We did a big of exploring of the local area. We went to Senigalia, Jesi and visited Loreto but to be honest it was hard to leave the villa. We did enjoy our trip to the local vineyard though! Next time we come we will try and explore more, maybe. The sky at night was amazing and we even saw a meteor shower! We would highly recommend this property - we were two families (8 people) and having all the bedrooms with en-suites makes this villa stand out from the rest. We tagged on an overnight stay in Rome at the end of our week, which was superb. It is about a 3hr drive away but the journey was fine and it rounded off our holiday beatifully. We thoroughly enjoyed our piece of La Dolce Vita!

Villa Staffieri is a very beautiful and comfortable villa with a great pool.
The villa is extremly convenient for getting around and visit old towns.
In a short walking distance to Castelplanio you have a very good pizzeria, bar, bank and a shop. I would recommend the villa to anyone who wants a relaxing stay in a lovely part of the Marche and in a great villa!