Pennabilli: Nature Park, Museums and the World of Tonino Guerra

Pennabilli combines the landscape of the Sasso Simone e Simoncello Interregional Nature Park with an unusually diverse cultural history. Those planning a trip combining nature, art and local traditions will find a range of opportunities here for shared discoveries. When choosing a holiday apartment or holiday home in Pennabilli, you can therefore consider whether your travel group would prefer to focus on the museums and historic centre, an excursion into nature or the town’s culinary side.

Experience Nature and Discover It Playfully

The MUSSS – Museo Naturalistico Parco Sasso Simone e Simoncello presents the park’s most important animal species in a permanent exhibition. Dioramas and faithfully reconstructed habitats make the content easy to understand. The museum also includes a specimen of a European wildcat found in the park in 2002. MUSSS also provides spaces for educational and cultural events.

Another experience awaits at the Lampi di genio laboratory in Mateureka. There, 30 exhibits enable interactive and playful experiments with the most important calculating instruments. If your travel group is interested in both nature and hands-on exploration, these two different visit ideas can easily be included in your travel plans.

For a hike, the Sentiero Tonino Guerra leads from Pennabilli’s historic centre towards the valley between Monte Canale and Monte Carpegna. The route connects the town with a landscape perspective in which the surrounding mountains become part of your own travel experience.

Art and History in the Historic Centre

I Luoghi dell’Anima is an open-air museum extending through Pennabilli’s historic centre and part of the Valmarecchia Valley. It comprises seven open-air museums in total. The Casa Museo Tonino Guerra is now the centrepiece of the installations created by Guerra for I Luoghi dell’Anima. L’Orto dei Frutti Dimenticati preserves fruit plants from the spontaneous flora of the Apennines. They were collected there to protect them from being forgotten and becoming extinct. The garden also houses sculptures and works by contemporary artists, as well as by Tonino Guerra.

Il Mondo di Tonino Guerra also offers an insight into the writer and artist’s artistic world. It displays paintings, ceramics and sculptures designed and created by Tonino Guerra, and is located in the basement rooms of the 14th-century Oratorio di Santa Maria della Misericordia. The Museo del Montefeltro complements the cultural tour with liturgical objects, ecclesiastical vestments, antique furniture, furnishings bearing traces of private or public use, votive offerings and reliquaries.

Seven stone sculptures contribute to the artistic impression at the Santuario dei Pensieri. The Santuario is enclosed by the walls of a room from an old Malatesta estate. This creates different ways of approaching the history of the place: through open-air art, religious and historical objects or the works of Tonino Guerra.

Events, Antiques and Local Cuisine

Artisti in Piazza uses the streets, squares, alleys and gardens of the historic centre for music, theatre, new circus and other performances. The event takes place every year in Pennabilli. During Pennabilli Antiquariato, apartments, shops and palaces in the historic centre are used for antique galleries for 15 days in July. These dates and formats give the town centre a distinctive cultural focus.

Local cuisine is also part of the picture of Pennabilli when planning your daily activities. Trattorias, restaurants, agriturismi, pizzerias and cafés offer traditional dishes and regional products. Accommodation in Pennabilli can therefore suit a stay in which museum visits, walks, events and dining do not have to be considered separately.

More Destinations in This Selection

If you would like to compare other places while planning, you can also view Petrella Guidi, Castelleale, Misano Adriatico, Scavolino, Saludecio, Morciano di Romagna, Gemmano and San Giovanni In Marignano.

To the higher-level travel overview: Rimini.