L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano I n the Marche country- side, roughly 25 miles from Ancona, Cingoli has just been named I t a l y ' s B o r g o d e i B o r g h i f o r 2 0 2 6 . A n d believe us when we say that not many places embody so well a type of dwelling so typi- cal of Italy: the hill town. Cingoli is often called the Balcone delle Marche, or "the Balcony of the Marche," and in this case, the phrase says exactly what it needs to say, if we consider that the village is set more than 1,900 feet above sea level, and looks out across a wide stretch of central Italy toward the Adri- atic. On clear days, your eyes c a n s e e a s f a r a s M o u n t Conero. In a country as rich in scenic claims as ours, this o n e d o e s n o t n e e d m u c h e m b e l l i s h m e n t : C i n g o l i ' s location on its own seems to be already reason enough to visit. But the first settlers in the area didn't choose it for sim- ple pleasure because, as it happened for many Italian hill towns, Cingoli grew high for very practical, not aesthe- tic, reasons. Elevation offered defense, visibility over sur- rounding land, cooler air in summer and, more importan- t l y , a c e r t a i n s e c u r i t y i n uncertain times. Here, com- munities gathered tightly, and streets followed the slope beneath them, and so, over generations, what had started as a necessity became a settle- ment of graceful, peaceful beauty. To be truthful, the Marche region has plenty of examples o f t h i s l o n g r e l a t i o n s h i p between landscape and settle- m e n t : i n t h e e n d , w e a r e t a l k i n g a b o u t a r e g i o n o f r o l l i n g h i l l s w h e r e t o w n s often appear on ridges or summits, never fully separate from the countryside around them, yet clearly set apart f r o m i t a t t h e s a m e t i m e . Walk through dwellings of this kind, and what strikes you first is not the type of monumentality you would expect from, let's say, a place like Assisi or Rome. Their appeal is somewhere else, it is i n t h e i r p r o p o r t i o n , t h e i r location, and in a sense of continuity that comes from their history. Their streets narrow where they need to narrow, then open up unex- pectedly into a small piazza; s t o n e s t e p s r i s e a n d f a l l a c c o r d i n g t o t h e g r o u n d beneath them, while a church f a ç a d e m a y u n e x p e c t e d l y appear after a bend in the lane. You move further, and here comes a tower, or yet another row of medieval hou- ses. In Cingoli, as in many such towns, you really get the impression that village and hill are one and the same, that the first wasn't built on the second, but rather "grew" out of it, just like an emerald green wood. Of course, this does not mean there is little to see b e y o n d t h e a t m o s p h e r e because Cingoli has medieval w a l l s , c h u r c h e s , n o b l e palaces, and works of art, including a noted altarpiece by Lorenzo Lotto. But part of its charm is perhaps in the way its architectural and arti- stic beauty remains low-key, just like it happens in many other small Italian towns. Everything, from courtyards to chapels and civic buildings carrying centuries and centu- ries of local history, emerges slowly as you move through. Then there is the view… In hill towns, the surrounding landscape becomes part of daily life and natural beauty, with the advantage that it changes month after month, following the slow but regu- lar pattern of the seasons. A n d t h e n t h e s k y , t h e w e a t h e r a r r i v i n g f r o m a d i s t a n c e ; o r t h e w o o d s beyond the fields and, some- times, in places near enough to the coast, even the occasio- nal glint of sea. Residents live in constant visual conversa- tion with the territory around them, but visitors notice all this immediately, because when you belong to a place like that, you may even forget how unusual it is. All this helps explain why t h e h i l l t o w n r e m a i n s s o strong in the Italian imagi- nation: Italy is a modern country of industry, infra- structure, suburbs, and large cities, yet many people at home and abroad still picture it through towns gathered on h e i g h t s a b o v e v i n e y a r d s , wheat fields, or olive groves. Yes, there is a lot of nostalgia and benevolent stereotyping in that, but there is also a large slice of the country's urban reality. T h i s i s w h y C i n g o l i ' s recognition says something about the present, not only about beauty and history. Smaller towns are often dis- cussed only through decline, depopulation, or campaigns to attract newcomers, and if it's true that those realities exist, they are not the whole picture. Many hill villages and towns continue as living communities, balancing her- itage with ordinary daily life, memory with adjustment, local identity with the needs of today's world. They may be quieter than they once were, but they are not museum sets waiting for visitors. Modern Italy is often nar- r a t e d t h r o u g h i t s l a r g e s t u r b a n c e n t e r s , t h r o u g h M i l a n ' s e n e r g y , R o m e ' s magnificence, Naples' creati- ve flair, or Bologna's livabili- ty. All of these are important realities, but another Italy remains visible in places like Cingoli, where life is modern but still slower, distances are walkable, and the built envi- ronment still keeps older proportions. There is also a n o t h e r r e a s o n t r a v e l e r s respond so strongly to towns like this once they leave the standard itineraries: in large cities, beauty can be frag- mented by traffic and distrac- tions, but in a smaller hill town, all the right elements hold together: architecture, landscape, silence, bells, a café on the square, the sense that walking is still the natur- al way to move, all of it. One may not choose to live there forever, but the attraction is immediate. So yes, Cingoli has won a t i t l e , a n d i t w i l l e n j o y deserved attention, but titles pass quickly. What lasts is what it represents so well. The Italian hill town remains one of the country's clearest achievements: a place where what was once practical and necessary became beauty, a n d w h e r e d a i l y l i f e s t i l l develops against a horizon leading our eyes miles and miles away from where we stand. High above the Marche landscape, Cingoli simply r e m i n d s u s o f t h a t o n c e again. FRANCESCA BEZZONE The architectural charm of Cingoli, a traditional Italian hill town, which has recently gained the award of Borgo dei Borghi 2026 (Photo: Lamio Giancarlo/Shutterstock) Cingoli and the Italian hill town: why o n e M a r c h e v i l l a g e s t i l l f e e l s l i k e a national ideal ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES

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