QA quick odd look at where to do some quality shopping and for traditional articles in Piceno. Starting from mountain localities, typical goods range from wooden handicraft at Amandola, specialising in the art of carving and cabinet making, to real food pearls such as the rare sheep’s milk cheese of the Sibillini and the fine meats produced in these places, which can be savoured and purchased in the hamlets strewn around the Park territory.
At Ascoli Piceno artistic tradition is undoubtedly identified with la majolica, which has for ages been finely decorated by worthy artisans. The handicraft tradition also pertains to the master luthiers and goldsmiths whose precious works are more or less performed all over Ascoli province.
As for land products, genuineness can be flavoured in Valle dell’Aso and its orchards. It takes magnificent pears, cherries, plums, apricots, marmalades and jams made from local fruits, to carry away with you some of the smells of this land. Yet even more, according to season, almonds, walnuts and very fragrant figs.
For the lovers of good wine, the most outstanding areas in Piceno coincide with the territories of Ripatransone and Offida. There one could find a swarm of wine cellars giving life to an unforgettable bouquet of fragrances and taste sensations. The latest of Picene DOC products takes its name from Offida itself. The Offida DOC, in its white, red, sparkling and sweet classifications, is actually a true and proper recovery of the territory’s autochthonous vine resources.
Still at Offida, the funghetti , mushroom sweets with a fragrance of aniseed, are the best souvenirs, as well as the mistrà , which is a dry taste, aniseed based, distilled liquor of peasant origin. They are souvenirs having a double meaning: the green aniseed of Piceno is actually one of the strong ingredients of local foods and among the most esteemed aniseed varieties in Italy . The handicraft which should be discovered is that of the bobbin lace. You may purchase from local expert handicrafts women some very beautiful lace spun with age-old techniques.
Acquaviva Picena too offers remarkable typicalities. The two most renowned are the ever rarer paiarole , multi-shaped straw and wicker baskets, and the peschette , soft pastry sweet enriched with chocolate cream and alchermes , baked in local bakeries.
Certainly one is not to forget the renowned footwear. Here the biggest shopping areas are at Montegranaro, Monte Urano and Sant’Elpidio a Mare, in Fermano, at the boundary with Macerata province.
