Montefalcone Appennino, Marche

Living on the edge

Montefalcone Appennino sits on the edge of a ridge overlooking the Fiume Aso valley in the western portion of the Ascoli Piceno Province. Situated at over 750 meters provides the town enjoys views of the Monti Sibillini to the west and the Adriatic Sea to the east with hilltop towns dotting the nearby farmland.

Overlooking the town are the ruins of the13^th century Rocca and from the courtyard at the church San Pietro in the middle of town you will find beautiful panoramas to the south. The centro storico, although on a gentle incline, can easily be walked in a short time and lining the narrow streets you will find that the buildings are well maintained with several showing signs of recent restoration.

For a relatively small town there are a couple restaurants in and near the centro storico but appear to be seasonal establishments. There are a few basic services located here but for full services you will need to visit one of the larger neighboring towns, all within a short drive. You will have easy access to the coast and the Autostrada A14 by way of the SS 433 that follows the Fiume Aso.

Know your metric conversions

A hectare is how big?

One of the things that can be confusing for people when searching for properties in Italy is the conversion of sizes and distances to the metric system. This will provide you with some basic conversions that will assist you when searching for properties via the internet.

• 1 acre = .405 hectares 1 : hectare (ha) = 2.47 acres
• 1 square mile = 2.56 square kilometers : 1 square kilometer (k2) = .386 square miles
• 1 mile = 1.61 kilometers : 1 kilometer = .621 miles
• 1 foot = .305 meters : 1 meter = 3.28 feet
• 1 square foot = .093 square meters : 1 square meter (m2) = 10.8 square feet

Knowing some conversions can help the real estate listing make sense when you are searching via the internet. When they show a house with “100 m2” you know that it has 1080 square feet. Also a property listing olive trees with “2 ha” will mean it has almost 5 acres of land, a good sized plot for cultivating.