Ripatransone, le Marche
- Mike
- Jul 28
- 5 min read
High up at 1,600 feet of elevation only 7 miles from the sea in the south-east corner of le Marche, Ripatransone has commanding views that fully justify its sobriquet as the ‘Belvedere of the Piceno’. When you first approach the town, from every direction except the coast, you quickly realize why its name begins with ‘Ripa’, the Italian word for a steep escarpment, because the land falls away dramatically below the town walls giving it an ideal defensive location.
An attribute that served it well over the centuries because the Ripani people were a feisty lot who didn’t take kindly to invaders and conquerors and their long history is a series of wars, sieges and skirmishes during which Ripatransone's reputation as a virtually impregnable stronghold was established.
With its fortifications completed by the end of the 12th century, the town became a free municipality but then had to endure more than 200 years of intermittent battles with Fermo, its close neighbor to the north, in order to maintain its independence. Wisely, Ripatransone allied itself with Ascoli Piceno for much of that time, to the great annoyance of Fermo.
However, the 15th century brought two defeats in quick succession for Ripatransone by two of the most famous condottieri in medieval Italian history, who during that period were winning battles all across central and northern Italy - Francesco Sforza of Milan and Sigismondo Malatesta of Rimini and Fano.
And then early in the 16th century Ripatransone fell once again, this time to rampaging Spanish mercenaries who gained access to the town through subterfuge but the Ripani gained their revenge with a decisive victory a few years later against the same Spanish forces despite being heavily outnumbered.
None of these legendary engagements seem to merit an annual commemoration on the Ripatransone calendar but instead there is a religious festival here that dates back centuries and continues today on the first Sunday after Easter. It’s called Il Cavallo di Fuoco (the fire horse) and the much safer modern version consists of a metal horse stuffed with exploding fireworks being pulled around a circuit in front of the Duomo. It’s a re-enactment of the event in 1682 when the master of pyrotechnics from Atri rode around Ripatransone throwing fireworks from his horse to celebrate the dedication of a statue of the Madonna.
This annual re-enactment has been officially recognized as part of the authentic heritage of Italy, presumably to distinguish it from the increasing amount of festivals in Italy created relatively recently purely for tourism purposes. The Festa dei Ceri in Gubbio is another officially recognized authentic festival.
Ripatransone has some of the best defensive walls and gates in le Marche that were constantly in need of rebuilding during the Medieval period as a result of all the wars and sieges referred to above. Some of the best preserved sections of wall are below the town on the coastal side that were built in the 16th and 17th centuries to protect the city’s water resources.
This area, known as the Complesso delle Fonti, includes two gates - Porta Cuprense and Porta San Domenico - as well as a Greek inspired amphitheater called the Teatro delle Fonti. To reach this part of town you descend from Piazza Condivi opposite the Duomo and follow Via Umberto I down to an open grassy area where the walls are mostly still intact.
The urban layout of the Ripatransone remains distinctively medieval and is still divided into four quarters reflecting the four original battlements, each with its own gate and parish church. The aristocratic buildings that came later are mostly to be found on the central thoroughfare through town, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, along which are the two principal piazze of Piazza Condivi and Piazza XX Settembre.
As a self-governing and independent city during various periods in its history Ripatransone has a Palazzo del Podestà dating back to the early 14th century, but with many subsequent architectural modifications, and it is in this building that you will find the delightful Luigi Mercantini Theater.
For those people unfamiliar with le Marche history, there was a unique cultural trend in this region of Italy centered around performing arts that resulted in the construction of more than 100 mostly intimate but beautifully crafted theaters from the 17th to 19th centuries, often in very small towns. Ripatransone’s theater arrived quite late in this period, delayed by both the church’s resistance and the lack of available space, a problem that was solved by converting a large part of the inside of the Palazzo del Podestà in the early part of the 19th century.
It’s a very attractive, well preserved theater with seating for 150 people that is located on the second floor of the Podestà and is still used regularly; during our visit there was a piano rehearsal in progress demonstrating the wonderful acoustics of the space. The people staffing the tourist office across the street are available to give you a quick tour of the inside.
The theater is named for Luigi Mercantini, a 19th century Italian poet born in Ripatransone, who was commissioned by Garibaldi himself to write the lyrics for the song now known as the Garibaldi Hymn that became the official battle song of the Second Italian War of Independence.
The main street in Ripatransone (left), the narrowest alleyway in Italy (center) and Elena's favorite cat in Ripatransone (right)
Ripatransone has one other claim to fame and that is its boast about having the narrowest alleyway in Italy that measures only 32 cm at its tightest point. This has become a very competitive aspect of tourism between medieval Italian towns and is apparently governed by various rules that require the alleyway to be real in the sense that it must be overlooked by at least one window and be accessed by at least one door. Civitella del Tronto just across the border in Abruzzo also lays claim to this title but far be it for me to adjudicate the winner.
We’ve visited Ripatransone on many occasions over the past 10 years because of its proximity to our favorite Marche beach resort, Grottammare. Ripatransone is one of those towns that keeps getting better despite a continuing very gradual population loss. It’s a more lively place in summer today than I remember from years past and has started to attract the interest of foreign buyers looking for holiday homes, helped by its splendid location and proximity to the coastline.
One of the new additions to town since we were last here is the Enoteca ‘Cantina dei Colli Ripani’. Colli Ripani has become one of our preferred Cantina Sociale wine producers in Italy, not just for their selection of excellent vino sfuso but also for their range of higher quality wines that are very fairly priced. We had an excellent lunch at the enoteca, sampled several wines and then visited their winery location a couple of miles away to make our purchases but many of their bottles are also on sale at the enoteca.
