The people of Jesi take their opera seriously, and they have a reason. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was born here in 1710, and by the time he died in 1736, at the age of twenty-six, he had written the Stabat Mater and the comic opera La serva padrona, two works that changed music. The theatre that carries his name was opened in 1798, a neoclassical jewel with tiers of boxes and a good-sized stage, in the heart of the old town on the main square. It still has a season, and a ticket for an evening performance is a treat if you are staying nearby.
Jesi is a walled town of about thirty-seven thousand on the Esino river, in the Marche region, and it has all the services you need, including fuel, food and parking just outside the old walls. Its other claim to fame is Emperor Frederick II, who was born here in 1194, in a tent in the piazza, according to the story, because his mother was travelling and did not want to give birth indoors where doubters could challenge the child's origin. Whether you believe it or not, it is a good tale to take to the bar. Wine drinkers will know the area for Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, a dry white that goes well with fish and with the local porchetta.
The riding is the real treat of the Marche, because the landscape is a pattern of low ridges running from the Apennines to the Adriatic, like waves frozen in place. West of Jesi the road enters the Gola della Rossa, a limestone gorge with good bends and thin traffic, and further on you reach the Frasassi gorge and its caves, one of the larger cave systems in Italy. The asphalt on provincial roads is mixed, and tight bends hide gravel in places, so keep a bit in reserve.
Monsano is the quiet neighbour next door, where the lanes are narrow and the hills green. Spring and autumn are pleasant, the summers hot and dry, and in winter the higher roads can ice up. Dinner in the old town on a mild evening is the best finish.