Italy Guide
Marche
Pésaro
Most of the tourists who come to PÉSARO visit for a beach holiday, attracted by the string of affordable three-star hotels and the low-key family fun on offer. Germans and Brits arrive on cheap package holidays but it's a popular place with Italians, too, going through the daily ritual of beach, lunch, beach, passeggiata and ice cream before dinner back at the hotel. A lot of Pésaro dates from the 1920s and 1930s, and the town today is a bit of a backwater but pleasant enough nonetheless, with its long stretch of sandy beach and an old centre full of small craft and design shops. And with regular transport connections to lesser-known towns like Gradara and Fano, it makes a feasible base from which to explore the northern Marche.