Portonovo is the small bay on the north side of Monte Conero, the closest of the Riviera's beaches to Ancona. The setting is unusual for the Adriatic: a curved gravel beach backed by oak woods, a brackish lagoon, and a handful of historic buildings — the eleventh-century Romanesque church of Santa Maria di Portonovo and the Napoleonic Torre di Guardia among them.
The bay is also the natural habitat of the mosciolo, a wild blue mussel that grows on the underwater rocks and is the basis of one of the region's signature dishes. A handful of seafood restaurants on the beach serve it through the season.