Marche

The Marches - Le Marche

Geography and Climate

The Marche region is located in the center of Italy along the Adriatic coast. The region's capital is Ancona.

The Marches consist of 5 provinces that all border the Adriatic Sea: Pesaro Urbino (PU), Ancona (AN), Macerata (MC), Fermo (FM) and Ascoli Piceno (AP). The coastline is about 170 km long with sandy and pebble beaches. In the north, the Marches border the Emilia-Romagna region. The region is approximately 9,700 km² and has 1,600,000 inhabitants. This means that the region is rather sparsely populated. The only airport in the Marches is Ancona-Falconara (AOI). Close to the airport there is a well-served train station, Falconara Marittima, with a track along the Adriatic coast towards Pesaro and on to Rimini and Bologna in Emilia-Romagna, and towards Pescara in Abruzzo, and a line towards the interior, to Jesi and Fabriano and on to Foligno, Spoleto and Terni in Umbria.

The green hills of the Marches

The Marches lie between the Adriatic Sea and the Apennines. The landscape is very varied with endless beaches, high mountains, green hills and fertile agricultural land. In the west of the region are the Apennines with the highest peak in the region, the Monte Vettore (2476 m). This mountain is part of the Monti Sibillini massif, which has been declared a national park.

The climate in the Marches is mild Mediterranean. This region has a lot to offer, sea and beach, beautiful hilltop villages, lots of beautiful nature with endless views and a few small ski areas. You can take long walks, horseback riding, mountain biking or enjoy the beach.

Le Marche is almost completely at risk for medium earthquakes, with the exception of the coastal strip.

Food and drinks

Olive all'Ascolana

In the Marches some well-known wines are produced, such as Rosso Piceno DOC, Rosso Conero DOC, or the delicious white wines Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi DOC, Verdicchio di Matelica DOC, both fruity and dry or Bianchello del Metauro DOC. The kitchen is very varied, you will find delicious dishes with fish or meat. The Marchigiani love their stuffed olives, Olive all'Ascolana, big, green, deep-fried olives, filled with a mixture of cheese and meat.

Specialties of the Marches

You will also find white and black truffles here. Typical is porchetta, boneless meat, a kind of giant pork roulade, seasoned with garlic, rosemary, sage, wild fennel, pepper and salt, then roasted. Another specialty is the famous Brodetto fish soup, which is different in every coastal city and is prepared with up to 13 different types of fish.

Economy and Health care

Agriculture is mainly based on growing vegetables, olives and wine grapes. The region ranks fourth in Italy for fishing. Tourism is also very important to this region. The Marches have a network of smaller companies that specialize in very specific niches, such as musical instruments, paper, textiles and leather.

Marche ranks 17th in the crime index, with only 2,714 reports of crimes per 100,000 inhabitants in 2020, which is well below the national average of 3,816. With regard to the number of thefts and thefts in homes, last year the number of reports was 1,298 per 100,000 inhabitants, while the figure for the whole of Italy is 2,051.

In terms of health care, the Marches are divided into 5 large areas, each of which coincides with one of the region's five provinces. There are 24 public hospitals. Seven in zone 1 (Pesaro-Urbino, 2,600 km² in size and with a population of 350,000), seven in zone 2 (Ancona, 2,000 km² in size and a population of almost 500,000), six in zone 3 (Macerata, 2,800 km² in size and one population of 300,000), two in zone 4 (Fermo, 900 km² and a population of 175,000) and two in zone 5 (Ascoli Piceno, 1,200 km² and a population of 200,000). This is the link to the website of the Azienda Sanitaria Unica Regionale (ASUR), the regional health service of Le Marche.

Holiday homes

Penna San Giovanni

The provinces with relatively the most English homeowners are Fermo and Ascoli Piceno. You will find most Germans resp. in Pesaro-Urbino, Ascoli Piceno and Ancona. Flemish and Dutch people are most present in resp. Pesaro-Urbino, Fermo and Ascoli Piceno. The most popular municipalities on the coast are Fano and Senigallia, and inland Pergola, San Ginesio and Penna San Giovanni.

The most beautiful towns

Italy has hundreds of beautiful villages both inland and on the coast. Many of them are included in the guide “I Borghi più belli d’Italia”. There are 28 towns of the Marches mentioned in this guide.

Gradara (PU)

In the province of Pesaro Urbino, these are the towns of Frontino, Gradara, Macerata Feltria, Fiorenzuola di Focara, Mercatello sul Metauro, Mondavio, Mondolfo, Montefabbri, Monte Grimano Terme and Pergola.

In the province of Ancona you will find Corinaldo, Offagna, Morro d'Alba and Sassoferrato.

In the province of Macerata there are 9 "most beautiful villages": Cingoli, Esanatoglia, Montecassiano, Montecosaro, Montelupone, San Ginesio, Sarnano, Treia and Visso.

In Ascoli Piceno: Grottammare, Montefiore dell'Aso and Offida.

In the province of Fermo: Moresco, Servigliano and Petritoli.

Camerino (MC)

The guide "Bandieri Arancioni" published by Touring Club Italiano also lists these towns: 

Acquaviva Picena (AP), Amandola (FM), Apecchio (PU), Camerino (MC), Cantiano (PU), Frontone (PU),Genga (AN), Monterubbiano (FM), Morrovalle (MC), Ostra (AN), San Severino Marche (MC), Serra San Quirico (AN), Staffolo (AN), Urbisaglia (MC) en  Valfornace (MC).