Tonino Guerra (1920-2012) — poet, screenwriter for Fellini (Amarcord, And the Ship Sails On), Antonioni (Blow-Up, Zabriskie Point), and Tarkovsky (Nostalgia) — chose Pennabilli as his home in 1989 and spent 23 years transforming the town into a living artwork. "I Luoghi dell'Anima" (Places of the Soul) is a series of poetic installations scattered through the borgo and surrounding landscape: the Garden of Forgotten Fruits (a garden of fruit varieties abandoned by industrial agriculture), the Sanctuary of Thoughts (ceramic plaques with phrases by the world's thinkers), the Petrified Garden (fossilized plants), and the Road of Sundials (seven sundials designed by Guerra along a walking path). The town itself sits between two rocky outcrops (Penna and Billi — merged into one name), each crowned by castle ruins, in the Montefeltro hills on the Marche-Romagna border. Emilia-Romagna →
Plan my Montefeltro trip →I Luoghi dell'Anima (Places of the Soul): Walk the town with the map (available at the tourist office) — each installation is a small discovery. The Orto dei Frutti Dimenticati (Garden of Forgotten Fruits) is the most substantial: a garden-museum of fruit varieties that modern agriculture abandoned. Free. Museo del Calcolo (Museum of Calculation): A collection of abacuses, early calculators, and computing devices from across the world. €3. The two rocks: Climb to both — Rocca di Penna and Rocca di Billi — for the panoramic views of the Montefeltro hills and the Marecchia valley. The centro storico: Medieval lanes, a 14th-century cathedral, and the atmosphere of a town that a poet loved enough to fill with meaning.
Getting there: car from Rimini (40min), San Leo (15min), Urbino (40min). No useful public transport. Stay: €40-65/night. Eat: Il Piastrino (€40-55, Michelin — one of the best restaurants in the Montefeltro). Combine with: San Leo (15min — Cagliostro fortress), San Marino (25min), Urbino (40min), Rimini (40min).