"Italia's hidden treasure" a Offida Travel Page by Markyreid

Sal and i have just returned from a fantastic week in Italia. It surpassed all of my expectations and was truly a great experience. We stayed with Sal's parents and two of their friends in a small town called Offida. Its located near the eastern coast, about 1 hour south of Ancona. The largest neighbouring town is St Benedeto, and then there is a small city of Ascoli Piceno which is found on most maps.
Offida is a small town of approximately 16,000 residents many of which live in the 'old' walled part of the city. The picture above shows one of the town's 3 churches. This particular one is one of the first buildings visible as you drive into the city.

It only took one day for one of the locals to make us feel welcome to Offida. John and Jenny met Orazio and his wife, Sofia, at the church on their first day. Orazio was extremely friendly and acted as our local tour guide for the next 5 days. Basically, it was Orazio and his family's hospitality and friendly nature that made our stay at Offida so enjoyable. He took us to his pasta shop and showed us different pasta making techniques and various stuffed olives. Offida is well known for its deep fried olives and i must say they did not disappoint. He also organised a tour of a local cheese producer, winery, beach visit and offered us some localled brewed wine.
Having Orazio's local knowledge highlighted the interesting parts of this small town. We found all the locals to be very friendly and felt welcomed in all parts of the town. The wine coop provided us free drinks and olives, the school let us watch their yr 5 dance performance and the local embroiders were happy to have us star at them in marvel of their fine work.

The local belief is those who drink from the town's fountain will return at a later date. I think the photo speaks for itself.

In each of the towns in this area the water fountains provided frssh drinking water straight from their springs below. Very refreshing and handy as we were never far from a refreshing drink in the 30 degree weather.