Marche itineraries

The village of Corinaldo

Corinaldo    0000-00-00

Not everyone knows Corinaldo, in the province of Ancona, but it is one of the most beautiful villages in Italy: it even took part in “Borgo dei Borghi”, a competition established by Alle Falde del Kilimangiaro, the famous travel programme aired on RaiTre – an Italian TV Channel. Awarded with the Bandiera Arancione (Orange Flag), Corinaldo is located not far away from the coast of the Marche overlooking the Adriatic sea, and offers to its visitors spirituality, tradition and art – being at the same time, only a few km from the beautiful sea.

The majestic walls immediately catch the eye; still in perfect condition, they date back to the 15th century. One of the starting points for an ideal tour is the Piaggia, a staircase made of 100 steps representing, in a certain way, the very heart of the town as it is located right in the middle of its old centre. On both sides of the Piaggia you can admire the typical brick houses, perfect to experience the medieval atmosphere of Corinaldo.

The so called Pozzo della Polenta (The Well of Polenta) is surrounded by a mysterious legend that gives life to yearly historical re-enactment, the Contesa del Pozzo della Polenta (Contest of the Pozzo della Polenta): is an event held in the third Sunday in July and represents the oldest re-enactment in the whole province of Ancona. The history of the well is very interesting, and not only because its roots go back to a very ancient past. Antonello Attaccabriga had the well built in the second half of the15th century; it was then buried at the beginning of the last century, when the flight of steps was built.

In 1980 it was built again from scratch, at the time of the first edition of the Contesa del Pozzo della Polenta; from that year onwards, the history of the bag of flour laid on the edge of the well is re-enacted. Legend has it that once upon a time a man was climbing the flight of steps, carrying on his back a very heavy bag of corn flour. At a certain point he stopped to rest for a moment and laid the flour bag on the edge of the well. By mistake, the bag fell into the well and the man went inside to try and pick it up: not seeing him come up again, women began to say that he was busy eating polenta in the well.

It is a curious and legendary tale that has became so famous over time that still nowadays it gives the nickname of “polentari” (polenta eaters) to the inhabitants of Corinaldo.

The same “polenta eaters” can still enjoy the sight of another building dealing with a legend: Scuretto's house. His real name was Gaetano, the town cobbler; he had many qualities, but also a great flaw: an almost boundless passion for wine. He used to spend all his money in the village taverns, including the sums he received from his son, who lived in the USA. Scuretto's son thought that the money was used to build the house where he would be living once he was back from America, but clearly that was not the reality. He began to have doubts that not everything was going as planned, and he asked his father to send him a picture of the house under construction. His sly father had only the façade built and a photographer took a picture of him appearing at the window. The son, however, did not fall for the trick and decided to stop sending money to Scuretto, who remained moneyless for his drinking spree and to carry on with the building works. Today, that unfinished house is the symbol of Corinaldo.