Our villa is in the town of Ripatransone. For those of you who have watched our YouTube videos, it’s the same one Bob & Gina live in! This town is what originally made us fall in love with this region.
The closest major train and bus stations to Ripatransone are San Benedetto Del Toronto and Grottammare. You’ll need to get yourself to one of these locations to begin the trip. Once you arrive at the train or bus station, we’ll pick you up in a car and take you to the villa! We’re making both the train and the bus station an option for being picked up because, depending on where you’re coming from, one mode of transportation may be more convenient than the other.
If I could offer a suggestion, I would highly recommend flying into Rome and spending a couple of days there before the tour. Rome is an incredible city. You’ll definitely want to see the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Vatican. While Rome is a fantastic city, it’s also packed with tourists! You’ll have a much better appreciation for the non-crowded Italian countryside if you spend a couple of days with all of the tourists in Rome first!
On the other hand, if you don’t have any extra days to spend in the city you’re flying into, we recommend flying into Bologna (assuming the flight prices are similar). It’s the closest major international airport to Ripatransone. It will still require a 3 hour train ride, but you don’t have to make any transfers.
Depending on how you want to spend your time in Italy, you may also choose to fly into Milan or Venice. You can reach Ripatransone from either of these cities in 5-6 hours by taking the train.
Bob has graciously put together a detailed spreadsheet that lays out the different options for traveling to San Benedetto Del Tronto and Grottammare. It includes departures from Rome, Venice, Milan, and Bologna.
If you’re leaving from Rome you have the option to take a bus; from the other cities, trains are far faster. Bob recommends taking the bus from Rome, as it is a lot faster (i.e., you catch the bus right at the airport rather than having to get to the train station in town).
A few things to note:
Prices are current but may change. Train prices are for the lowest fares and may be higher in the summer.
The spreadsheet is color coded based on optimal arrival times: green indicates arrivals into SBdT / Grottammare before 5pm; yellow between 5pm and 7pm; red anything later than that. (I didn’t include arrivals much past 9pm).
I HIGHLY recommend arriving no later than 3 p.m.. We want to make sure everyone has time to get comfortable on their Vespa, and we have an awesome dinner and wine tasting planned for the first night!