3805 Travel to Marche via Roma

The A24 is a fabulous route and I don't think it will take you anything like 4 hours..(I've driven Roma - Pescara in well under 3 hours) but it certainly is worth taking it easy and absorbing the views if you are not in a hurry to arrive. Some of the scenery is spectacular and it's a excellent motorway to drive on.

Driving from Rome is easy, it is well signed and I am sure you will not regret the drive - depending on the time of day of course! I have driven this route 8 or 9 times mainly in the late Spring and early Autumn and can honestly say it is one well worthwhile as I stop off to have a nosey round here and there.

Another option is the SS8 and would take about 3.5 hours from Roma to Amadola

I have no idea what it's like in the Winter - but I'm willing to bet it's equally as spectacular!

:) :)

Anastasia thanks for the info! Think we will definately give it a try.

The thought of being able avoid the drive to stanstead, the long bus ride to the terminal, not paying for parking there and not having to travel Ryanair (or Easyjet for that matter) sounds bliss at this end.

So what if the drive in Italy takes longer, should be much more pleasant!

If anyone has tried it in the winter would be good to know - we are likely to drive down in September with a Van, but at Christmas will need to do the fly/hire car thing again.

Robert

given the choice of driving through italy,or england, italy wins.
As to the practicalities, well stanstead is what 90 miles away,and you do not
mention what other airport you would use,so i will asume you use one of the
london airports,which means you may save 1 hour in driving in england.
but you are already having to drive for 2,1/2 extra hours in italy?.

its all swings and roundabouts.....

[LEFT]I used this route 2 years ago. The A24 terminates at Teramo and you will have to pick up the A14 at Giulianova. It will take 2.5 to 3 Hours to reach San Benedetto del Tronto (if you don't get caght up on the Raccordo Annullare which is notorious), a further 20 mins to Ascoli on the expressway, and from here you contiunue on the SS4 where you pick up the SP78 near Mozzano. 4 hours is about right.

In the old days people used the SS4 Via Salaria, scenic yes, but it takes ages. [/LEFT]

I'd say the Via Salaria is better - the last bit off the motorway from Teramo via Ascoli to Amandola is horribly long and windy. Should be a bit better when the new bit of road after Ascoli is finally opened

The Salaria is wide so plenty of opportunities to pass lorries etc - scenery as spectacular as the motorway.

Though I haven't done it in high summer, which might be different

I'd say 3 hours

I used to regularly drive on the A1 from Rome up to Orte, then through Terni and Spoleto, up to Fabriano etc. Horrible at night when no roads (even autostrada) are lit, and all traffic goes as fast as it can, driving on your backlights. As our car doesn't have a huge engine, going up hill and round bends with lorries a cigarette paper's distance from you was hairy. Once off the autoroute at Orte, you get single lane traffic (though with some passing distance) for km and km.

Daytime was a lot more pleasant, and you can at least see to overtake. It used to take us a good three hours to get from Rome to Jesi - on a Friday evening after a long week's work, I can think of nicer ways to spend my time.

[quote=annec]

The Salaria is wide so plenty of opportunities to pass lorries etc - scenery as spectacular as the motorway.[/quote]

Not the bit that runs through the northern part of Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso. Very scenic, but I wouldn't say you can pass a lorry. From Arquata del Tronto to Acquasanta Terme the road twists and turns and again, I wouldn't over take due to the sharp bends.

Thanks everyone! seems like there are a number of options all with pro's and cons .....

Still not sure from the replies whether these roads all good in the winter? Don't fancy ending up on one that we have to crawl along due to ice.

At this stage of the game think we could suffer a drive behind lorries for a bit if the scenary is good. A bit futher ahead in time, we may just want to get there as quickly as possible!

Looks like it will have to be Stanstead to Ancona when we come to sign the Rogito (hopefully late June) as BA from Gatwick has nothing reasonably priced left :eek:

Think we will try the Roma route at Christmas.

Hi there, I usually fly into Rome and drive to Ancona,my favorite route (not the shortest one but very charming) is thruogh Gubbio. You go through a wonderful passo (Passo del Furlo-not recommended in Winter) with standing Roman bridges (yeahh, quite old!!) then Gubbio itself is a lovely medioeval town. I don't know if you are in a hurry to get there or if you could do some touring...
Good luck!

:) Hi
We moved from Worthing to near Amandola 3 mths ago!.As we had cats we flew BA from Gatwick to Bologna, and then a 3 hour ish drive down here very easy, and stress free, even with 2 cats on board. It was the quickest route, especially as so close to gatwick.
Hope you have a good trip whichever way you choose, and maybe we could meet up for a chat as you are not too far away,

Welcome to Le Marche
Angie and Robert.

We're buying near Cupramontana and prefer the Gatwick-Bologna route as well, as we live in SW London and getting to Stansted is irritating. The longer drive at the Italy end is much better than the nasty train on the UK end...

Well flying out twice this month, first time via Stanstead (uck!) to Ancona, and the second via Gatwick to Bologna (couldn't get cheap fares to Rome at this short notice), so we will have a chance to try that route too.

Second trip is to sign the Rogito. Very exciting.

Good luck with the signing arty - hope it all goes smoothly.
We drove out at xmas last year via Rome having hired a clapped out transit van for the week - think it was 300 euros and as the unbuyoutable excess was 1000 euros I was quite happy that it already had some dents and scrapes. We hit Ikea on xmas eve (empty highly recommended) and took the Gran Sasso route then did the coast route and came in via the Pedaso turnoff on the E55 through Comunanza. It was easy on the way there but on the way home we hit snow at Laquila and only just made our flight as we had to take it so slowly on the roads. At that time of year you are supposed to always carry chains - the hire car co could not supply these and when I tried to buy them in supermarkets we couldn't work out which size we needed so went without. I would not do it again without chains in Winter and would allow loads of time - literally 5 hours at least just in case of snow. It was quite hairy at times.
Last month friends took the route south via Ascoli and said it was wonderful - took about 3 1/2 hours to Rome but I would not do this in winter.
We'll be there at Xmas/NY - come over for a drink..

Marina

I definitely agree it's not a trip to do in winter, it took us 5hrs 45 minutes and a lot of anguished looks from Dawn. :(

Going downhill was like doing a bob sleigh run :D

I wasn't frightened tho I couldn't see.

[IMG]http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/community/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1297&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=009852af6c4d94dbb3eab51df5d38087[/IMG]

Lovely trip as an alternative option.

Dawn & Dave

[QUOTE=Rosa_perugina]Hi there, I usually fly into Rome and drive to Ancona,my favorite route (not the shortest one but very charming) is thruogh Gubbio. You go through a wonderful passo (Passo del Furlo-not recommended in Winter) with standing Roman bridges (yeahh, quite old!!) then Gubbio itself is a lovely medioeval town. I don't know if you are in a hurry to get there or if you could do some touring...
Good luck![/QUOTE]
... As long as you know it is not the fastest way to reach Ancona !
We are from Rome but we have a farmhouse in Senigallia , we tried many roads ... and Im sure the best, faster , less expensive way is through Spoleto, Foligno and Fabriano !
ciao
Angelo