Holiday apartment in Frontale: history, nature and trails

Holiday apartment in Frontale: history, nature and trails

Frontale combines medieval traces with a church steeped in history, an ecomuseum dedicated to the traditional craft of charcoal making, and trails leading to Pian dell’Elmo. When choosing a holiday apartment in Frontale, you can plan your trip around culture, nature and different stages.

Medieval traces and Sant’Anna

The bell tower of the former Sant’Anna church is one of the medieval structures dating from the 13th or 14th century. The base of a tower from Frontale’s medieval castle has survived and was incorporated into the bell tower. The originally heavily fortified Castello di Frontale dates back to the early years of the 11th century. Remains of its surrounding walls can still be seen today among beech and holm oak woods.

The Sant’Anna church was built between 1960 and 1965 in the new part of Frontale, after the old village was destroyed by an earthquake. A majolica on its façade depicts Saint Anne, the Virgin Mary and an angel. Since 1776, the parish church has preserved the mortal remains of San Domenico Loricato.

A particularly valuable historical record is the Sacramentary of Frontale. It dates from between 950 and 1000 and has a gilded silver cover with ivory inlays. It was made in Ravenna; in 1049, on the occasion of San Domenico Loricato’s investiture as prior at the Benedictine hermitage dedicated to the Most Holy Trinity in what is now the Frontale hamlet of the municipality of Apiro, San Pier Damiani donated it to San Domenico Loricato.

The history of San Domenico di Frontale also includes a dark event: during a raid carried out in the Apiro area at the end of April, the two Pelucchini cousins were shot dead on 26 April. They were heads of families in the Contrada and were accused of sheltering partisans.

Trails, traditional crafts and natural history discoveries

Trail 175 begins a few hundred metres beyond Frontale and leads to Pian dell’Elmo. The “Dal Lago di Castreccioni alle vette del San Vicino” route reaches the Museo Musi Tinti as its second stage. This makes it possible to combine historical sites and a stage-based itinerary within the same travel concept, without having to limit yourself to just one type of experience.

The Museo Musi Tinti is an ecomuseum dedicated to the traditional craft of charcoal making. It displays original objects as well as a reconstruction of a charcoal kiln. Accessibility has also been taken into account for orientation on site: the museum has an entrance accessible to wheelchair users, as well as assisted-listening devices for some museum content.

An iridium-rich K–T boundary layer marks the transition from the Cretaceous to the Paleogene 65 million years ago. It adds a geological perspective to the visible forests, castle ruins and evidence of the area’s ecclesiastical history.

If you would like to discover further destinations for your trip beyond Frontale, you can also find Matelica, Palazzata, Colbuccaro, Treia, Porto Recanati, Montecosaro, San Severino Marche and Sant'egidio.

For the broader travel overview: Macerata.