This is a small town in a fine and fertile plain, and close to the sea. It is badly built, with narrow, confined streets; but we found excellent provision of bread and wine and fish, though the rooms were poor.[6] Fano has an advantage over the other towns of this coast, such as Sinigaglia, Pesaro, and others, in that it is abundantly supplied with fresh water, which is laid on to many public and private fountains, while the people of these other towns must needs fetch their water from the hills. We saw there a fine ancient arch[7] bearing an inscription in the name of Augustus, _qui muros dederat_. The town was known as Fanum Fortunæ. Here, as in other places in Italy, they use a wheel for boulting flour, wherefore their bakers get through more work in one hour than ours in four. At almost every inn are to be found rhymesters, who will reel off on the spur of the moment a string of doggerel appropriate to their hearers. There is a musical instrument in every shop, even at the stocking-darner’s at the corner of the street. Fano is famous beyond all the other towns of Italy for its fair women, but all those we saw were very ugly indeed. I heard from a goodman of the town, of whom I made inquiry on this matter, that the days for the blooming of such beauty were past and gone. On this route the charge for dinner is about ten soldi, each person paying some twenty soldi per diem for everything, and thirty soldi per diem for the hire and maintenance of each horse. This town belongs to the Church. We failed to see certain towns which lay a little farther along the sea-coast road: Pesaro, a fine city, and well worth a visit; Rimini, and the ancient city of Ravenna--Pesaro being especially interesting, according to report, on account of a fine house which the Duke of Urbino[8] has recently caused to be erected on a remarkable site. This same road goes on to Venice. We quitted the sea-coast, and, turning to the left, we traversed a wide plain watered by the _Metaurus_. On either hand delightful hillsides came in sight, the aspect of this country being not unlike that of the plain of Blaignac about Castillon. On the other side of this river was fought the battle[9] between the Romans under Salinator and Claudius Nero and Hasdrubal, who was there slain.