Hotel Emiliana in Sirolo, Italy, has been offering nature loving families a great location for holidays for many years, and now they are planning to welcome far more visitors from across the South West of England.
“Sirolo is such a nice place for families who love nature and sport and beautiful beaches,” said owner Eva Lorenzetti. “It is perfect for families who love walking, with the beach just 800m from the village, and a path meandering through the woods. Then there’s the kayaking, stand up paddle boarding and surfing available from the gorgeous beaches across the area.
“We are located in Conero Regional Park, which is an area that is ideal for trekking, cycling and boat tours, as well as being ideal to visit ancient local towns and castles. And for families, one of the real highlights is the Tarta Day where turtles are released in the Conero Bay – an event that is always particularly popular with the children.”
Eva explained that the Adriatic Sea is one of the most important feeding areas in the Mediterranean for certain types of turtles. The turtles that are released each year have been in the care of the Cetacea Foundation turtle hospital in Riccione, with the release taking part in summer at various locations along the Adriatic coast. Crowds gather from across the world to see this wonderful event, with families always involved.
Hotel Emaliana was built by Eva’s parents in 1969, and she and her brothers have worked there ever since, including building Villa Eva next door. “We have nearly 20 rooms across both Hotel Emiliana and Villa Eva, with larger families welcome to book more than one room. We are happy to offer special rates for families which includes breakfast and dinner in our organic restaurant.
“One of the other very popular activities that we arrange for visiting families is one and two week Italian language holidays, which combine morning lessons with activities in the evening. There’s also a very popular pasta laboratory and cooking lessons which children love, where we use products like eggs, olive oil, wine, meat and vegetables from our country farm and show how to cook them in a traditional way.
“For the grown ups we also produce our own wine, with guests welcome to visit the cellars and of course enjoy the local produce!”
Eva added that the best times to visit the region are throughout the Spring, Summer and Autumn, with flights available from London Stansted and Gatwick airport to nearby Ancona, as well as from Bristol Airport to Perugia, which is about one hour away by train.
“We have seen so many more families coming from the UK and with my daughter studying in Bath, I have got to know the city well and would love to welcome more visitors from here as well.