Marche - Italy in one region ... and a few unusual destinations to boot

In his 1957 book Viaggio in Italia, Guido Piovene had this to say: “If one had to decide which Italian landscape was the most typical, you’d have to choose the Marche … Italy, with its range of landscapes, is a distillation of the world; the Marche is a distillation of Italy.”

My lack of knowledge of the nether lands (of Italy) prevents me from verifying the claim, but if I ever fill that void, I’ll be sure to proffer an opinion.

One thing’s for sure, Marche is diverse, and not just in landscape. For example, according to the wholly unbiased Marche Tourism Department, it has the largest number of museums and galleries in Italy, 200 Romanesque churches, and 71 historic theaters, amongst many other impressive and arbitrary statistics.

There's plenty to offer a variety of tastes, from the common place to the obscure. Here are a few examples:

In a little town just 5 miles from the Adriatic coast, is a plain stone building that draws thousands of religious pilgrims every year. That’s because it’s believed to be the birthplace of the Virgin Mary and the childhood home of Jesus, transported here by angels towards the end of the crusades to spare it from the clutches of the Turks.

In a beautiful hilltop university town in the north, is an unassuming house on a steep cobbled street. This was where Renaissance artist Rafael grew up, developing the craft that was to garner him widespread and lasting acclaim. His house is just one of a clutch of veritable gems in this charming and popular town.

Nestled in a bowl deep in the Apennine mountains is an innocuous tarn, steel blue in its stark surroundings. The legend goes that Pontius Pilate is buried here. The legend also goes that the Sybil, priestess and guide to the underworld, lived here in a cave with a hundred mouths, and that her whispers would resound and echo here for all eternity.

Not far from this place is a canyon that splits the mountains, an awesome creation of the River Tenna. Within it runs a “road” (the term is used liberally) that at one time went all the way to Roma. Today it’s the home of a hermit monk living in a church that he built by hand, perhaps a fitting fixture in a chasm that goes by the name Gola de Infernaccio (Hell’s Gorge).

In a small town not far from the coast, is an industry that fuels a hundred folk music traditions around the world – the manufacture of accordions. It’s said that the world’s first piano accordion was manufactured here in 1863.

Promoting shoes from Italy isn’t exactly ground-breaking, but normally one associates it with Roma and Milano, the country’s fashion capitals. But tucked away on the Adriatic coast is a zone that features one shoe factory and outlet store after another. The Italians know about it, even if the rest of the world doesn’t.

Marche enjoys a coastline on the Adriatic of 180 kilometers (just over 110 miles). Beaches alternate between stone and sand, and welcome thousands upon thousands of Italians and other Europeans during the busy summer months. Also scattered amongst the lido regiments and their orderly ranks of beach chairs, are a few grassy hills and tree-clad cliffs, creating coves and bays of deep blue and incredible beauty.

Of course, one advantage of central Italy is its proximity to so many other areas of not only Italy, but Europe. In Marche, your options are expanded significantly thanks to the busy ferry port of Ancona. A genuine, pleasant city in its own right, Ancona offers car ferry access to Venice, Croatia, Greece, and even Israel and North Africa if you’re looking to travel further afield.

I could go on, and if left to my own devices, I would. But I’m sure you wouldn’t appreciate it, so I'll leave with a destination for those that want more: www.le-marche.com