the MARCHE region Discovering VADEMECUM FOR THE TOURIST OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM Discovering THE MARCHE REGION MARCHE Italy’s Land of Infinite Discovery the MARCHE region “...For me the Marche is the East, the Orient, the sun that comes at dawn, the light in Urbino in Summer...” Discovering Mario Luzi (Poet, 1914-2005) Overlooking the Adriatic Sea in the centre of Italy, with slightly more than a million and a half inhabitants spread among its five provinces of Ancona, the regional seat, Pesaro and Urbino, Macerata, Fermo and Ascoli Piceno, with just one in four of its municipalities containing more than five thousand residents, the Marche, which has always been Italyʼs “Gateway to the East”, is the countryʼs only region with a plural name. Featuring the mountains of the Apennine chain, which gently slope towards the sea along parallel val- leys, the region is set apart by its rare beauty and noteworthy figures such as Giacomo Leopardi, Raphael, Giovan Battista Pergolesi, Gioachino Rossini, Gaspare Spontini, Father Matteo Ricci and Frederick II, all of whom were born here. This guidebook is meant to acquaint tourists of the third millennium with the most important features of our terri- tory, convincing them to come and visit Marche. Discovering the Marche means taking a path in search of beauty; discovering the Marche means getting to know a land of excellence, close at hand and just waiting to be enjoyed. Discovering the Marche means discovering a region where both culture and the environment are very much a part of the Made in Marche brand. 3 GEOGRAPHY On one side the Apen nines, THE CLIMATE od for beach tourism is July on the other the Adriatic The regionʼs climate is as and August. The climate in coast, and in the middle an diversified as the lay of the the inland areas is harsh in the MARCHE region expanse of gentle hills atop land is varied. The average winter, making it advisable which sit century-old vil- temperature ranges from to visit villages, parks and lages protected by 10°C to 15°C, with temper- other sites in those areas in medieval walls: this is the ature changes of between Spring and Autumn. Sum - Marche, also called the 5° to 13° C. Along the coast, mers in the mountain areas Discovering Marches, the region with the climate is subcontinen- are cool, and the Winters the plural name, bordering tal north of Anco na with are rather brisk, with snow- to the north with Emilia sharp shifts in temperature fall that allows enthusiasts Romagna; to the south with between the seasons: sum- to take to skiing and the Abruzzi and Latium; to mers are hot but rarely engage in other winter the east with the Adriatic humid, thanks to the sports. Sea, and to the west with breezes and the cool air Umbria and Tuscany. With from the hills set back from MOUNTAINS an area of 9,366 km2, the the sea, while winters are AND PASSES Marche is divided into five cold, with the rains typical of More than 90,000 acres of provinces (Ancona, Pesaro the season. Due to the Marche, almost 10% of the and Urbino, Macerata, Monte Conero promontory, total regional territory, are Fermo, Ascoli Piceno) with the climate south of Anco na protected. There are 2 239 municipalities. Known is subcoastal, presenting national parks (Monti as “Italy in one region”, the increasingly Medi terranean Sibillini and Gran Sasso Marche region contains features further south, in plus Monti della Laga), 4 three types of territory: the direction of the Riviera regional parks (Monte mountain, hill and coast. delle Palme. The best peri- Conero, Sasso Simone e 5 ring regions are routed through the Apennine pas- ses of Bocca Trabaria (Urbino-Arezzo), Boc ca Serriola (Fano-Città di Castello), Passo della Scheggia (Fano-Perugia), Colle di Fossato (Fabriano- Foligno), Passo di Colle - fiorito (Macerata-Foligno), Forca Canapine (Ascoli Piceno-Norcia). Simoncello, Monte San Acuto (1,668 m), Catria THE GENTLE HILLS Bartolo and Gola della (1,702 m), Pietralata (889 The hilly zone, which Rossa plus Frasassi), 6 m), Paganuccio (976 m), accounts for two-thirds of nature reserves (Abbadia San Vicino (1,486 m), Bove the territory of the Marche, di Fiastra, Montagna di (2,169 m), Priora (2,334 m), is where the regionʼs natu- Torricchio, Ripa Bianca, Sibilla (2,175 m) and ral features and man-made Sentina, Gola del Furlo and Vettore (2,476 m). works blend together best. Monte San Vicino plus The highest mountain in the The gentle hills that flow Monte Canfaito), more than Marche is Vettore (2,476 towards the coast like 100 protected plant and m); the lowest is the sub- waves offer the eye-catch- flower areas, 15 state Apennine Monte Conero ing patchwork of colours forests, and over 60 envi- (572 m), the only portion of created by the different ronmental education cen- rocky coastline between crops. The orchards and tres. The forests still con- Trieste and Gargano, divi- cornfields that cloak the tain deer and wolves. Birds ding the Adriatic shore in sloping sides of the hills of note include the golden exactly two portions. Ap - cause the landscape to eagle, the lanner falcon, the proaching from the North, change from season to sea- chough and the eagle owl. this break is introduced by son. The rural appearance The regionʼs mountains Focara, which faces out to of the hills of the Marche is include: the Montefeltro sea and was once conside- a result of tenant farming chain, the Catria chain, the red a very dangerous pas- and the planting of multiple San Vicino chain and the sage (the name “Focara” crops, now replaced by Sibillini chain. Listed from would appear to derive from intensive, specialized plant- North to South, the main the fires that were lit on the ing. The main crops are still peaks are: Carpegna hill to warn ships). The wheat, grapes and olives, (1,415 m), Nerone (1,526 roads that connect the while marked growth has m), Petrano (1,091 m), Marche with the neighbou- been recorded in agro-food 6 products of certified quali- mental heritage, along with and the ochre hue of the ty, including 21 different their hospitality and wine long beaches. The coast, wines: 15 Registered and food offerings, prove made up of fluvial deposits Designation of Origin especially outstanding. The of sand and clay, runs along (DOC), 5 Guaranteed tools used by the share- in two straight and almost Designation of Origin croppers are kept as perfectly flat portions divided (DOCG) and 1 “Indicazione reminders of the past in by the Monte Conero the MARCHE region Geografica Tipica” (IGT). museums of peasant cul- promontory. Some beaches Many venerable villas and ture. The best known are protected from erosion landed estate houses have include the museum in by breakwaters. There are preserved the architecture Senigallia, named after the 180 kilometers of coast- of the tenant farming sys- great economic historian line and 26 seaside Discovering tem and are now agro- Sergio Anselmi, Mon tefiore resorts that face onto the tourism establishments dellʼAso, Morro dʼAl ba, Adriatic, together with the where visitors can spend Pieve Torina, Sas so ferrato sea port of Ancona and 9 holidays or stop to purchase and the Biroccio museum in tourist ports. 16 Blue Flag organic products or taste Filottrano. Awards certify the high the traditional dishes of the quality of the waters and the Marche cuisine. No fewer THE COAST related services, which offer than 18 villages are listed From Gabicce Mare to San visitors a full range of among the “Most Beautiful Benedetto del Tronto, the beaches made of fine sand, Towns in Italy”, and 17 forms and colours of the gravel or rock, reefs and sites have been awarded coastal landscape are con- palms. Many of the coastal the Orange Flag, the pres- stantly changing. The white villages present an upper tigious banner given by the cliffs facing onto the Adriatic village, protected by the Italian Touring Club to Sea alternate with the deep walls of a castle perched on towns whose preservation green of the hills, spotted a hill which was the initial of their cultural and environ- with the venerable villages settlement, while the “mari- 7 waterfalls and rapids that have created spectacular ravines and gorges in the surrounding territory, such as the Furlo gorge, an area declared a National Nature Reserve in the vicinity of Acqualagna, and the Burano gorge in Cantiano, both found along the Via Flaminia in the Province of na”, a flat district running THE MAGIC OF THE Pesaro and Urbino. Rivers along the shore, was only WATER. THE RIVERS have also created the established later as a resi- AND VALLEYS, THE Rossa gorge and that of dential and business area. CAVES OF FRASASSI Frasassi, located inside the In some of the seaside AND THE GORGES regional park of the same towns, museums of the The region features a name, in Genga, in the sea have been opened, series of harmonious hills Province of Ancona, togeth- such as the “Washington bounded by numerous er with the Pioraco canyon, Patrignani” Museum in waterways that run parallel in the vicinity of the town Pesaro and the Piceno to each other, almost all of that bears its name, and the Mussel Museum in Cupra them flowing into the Fiastrone and Infernaccio Marittima. Today, San Be - Adriatic, with the exception gorges in the Sibillini nedetto del Tronto has a of the springs of the Nera, Mountains, to name just a museum complex with four located near the Sibillini few.