Summer seaside fun goes hand in hand with high culture in Pesaro, Le Marche's second-largest city. It's not an immediately attractive place, but look beyond the concrete high-rise hotels and crowds of bronzed holidaymakers jostling for beach space in August and you'll find a lot to like.
Birthplace of the artist Raphael, Unesco-listed Urbino is both a vibrant university town and a model Renaissance city. Its immaculate centro storico appears to have changed little since the 15th century when it enjoyed a golden age under the powerful Duca Federico da Montefeltro.
Of Earth's 196 independent countries, San Marino is the fifth smallest and – arguably – the most curious. A sole survivor of Italy's once powerful city-state network, this landlocked micronation still endures, secure in its status as the world's oldest surviving sovereign state and its oldest republic.
These are the top experiences and sights in Pesaro, Urbino and San Marino, according to Lonely Planet.
