Get To Know The Le Marche Region Through Its 5 Provinces

Hailed as all of Italy wrapped into one region, Le Marche is the perfect once-in-a-lifetime, bucket-list Italian destination for those who don’t want to spend all their time in the overcrowded, touristy areas of Tuscany, Rome, Florence, Amalfi, Venice, Cinque Terre, or Sicily. 

Like its neighboring regions, Le Marche is home to many of Italy’s most beautiful medieval villages, a pristine coastline, and award-winning wineries, making it Italy’s best-kept secret.

Le Marche sits on Italy’s Adriatic coast, a few hours’ drive east of Rome over the Apennine Mountains, and that mountain barrier is a big part of why it has stayed one of Italy’s hidden gems. 

Whether it’s your first trip to Italy or one of many, now is the perfect time to discover Italy’s best-kept secret and visit a region that more than lives up to its up-and-coming status as Italy’s next Tuscany!

Introduction to the Le Marche Region of Italy

Le Marche sits between the Apennine Mountains and Italy’s eastern Adriatic coast, a region of rolling hills and sandy beaches with a slower, quieter pace than its tourist-filled neighbors. 

Le Marche is best explored by car, since most of its medieval hill towns can’t be reached by train, so our small group tours travel in private 8- to 9-seater vans to reach experiences like truffle hunting, organic family-run farms, and award-winning wineries. 

Le Marche is made up of five provinces: Ascoli Piceno, Macerata, Fermo, Ancona, and Pesaro-Urbino, each with its own culture and history. The Marchigiani are known for their warm hospitality, and you’ll feel it firsthand when local chefs and farmers welcome you into their homes when you join us on tour. 

Let’s take a look at each province in Le Marche.

1. Ascoli Piceno

Ascoli Piceno, the province’s capital, is known as the City of One Hundred Towers and Travertine, and its history reaches back even further than Rome’s. Every July and August, it hosts La Quintana, Italy’s second-largest medieval reenactment. 

Northeast of the city, the village of Offida is one of Italy’s most beautiful villages and home to its Tombolo lace makers, surrounded by the vineyards and olive groves of Piceno wine country. You’ll see it all on our Italy’s Epicurean Journey and Umbria Undiscovered tours.

Best food: Ascoli’s signature dish is olive all’ascolana, lightly fried olives stuffed with a closely guarded meat filling. The recipe dates to the 1800s, holds DOP status, and has two festivals of its own; on select tours, you’ll learn to make it yourself. 

You’ll also find tagliatelle with truffles, local liqueurs, and the most Gambero Rosso award-winning pizzerias in Le Marche. For aperitivo, Caffè Meletti on Piazza del Popolo is one of Italy’s 150 historic cafés, a Hemingway favorite, and the home of Anisetta Meletti.

Top wines in Ascoli Piceno:

• Pecorino
• Passerina
• Offida Rosso
• Rosso Piceno

2. Macerata

Macerata’s hills overlook the Esino River valley, a stretch of vineyards and estates you’ll wake up to every morning. Nearby Recanati is the birthplace of poet Giacomo Leopardi, whose poem “L’infinito” was inspired by these same views, which run from the truffle country of the interior to Le Marche’s best beaches on the Conero coast.

Best food: Vincisgrassi is Macerata’s classic Sunday dish, with layers of thin hand-rolled pasta, béchamel, and meat sauce, made by local nonnas since the late 1700s. Depending on the season, it might show up on your tour. 

Macerata is also the home of ciauscolo, a smoked and cured pork sausage seasoned with black pepper and garlic. After a big meal, try Amaro Sibilla, an herbal liqueur made since 1868 from honey, herbs, and roots from the Sibillini Mountains.

Top wines in Macerata:

• Verdicchio di Matelica
• Vernaccia di Serrapetrona
• Colli Maceratesi Ribona

3. Fermo

Fermo has Italy’s largest Roman cisterns and a library that National Geographic named one of the most beautiful in the world. It’s also the center of Italian luxury shoemaking and home to brands like Tod’s and Hogan. 

The outlets here are spread out and change their hours often, so it’s easy to lose a whole day and leave empty-handed. On tour, we take you straight to our favorite: a boutique outlet with 30 to 70% off, including Tod’s and Hogan.

Best food: Maccheroncini di Campofilone is Fermo’s prized egg pasta, delicate and known for its quality. Look for sapa too, a syrupy sweetener made from cooked grape must that tastes a little like balsamic vinegar.

Top wines in Fermo (a few local winemakers still age wine in amphorae, a Roman technique you can taste on select tours):

• Falerio Pecorino
• Amphora-aged IGT wines
• Vino cotto

4. Ancona

The city of Ancona is the capital of both its province and Le Marche. Greek settlers from Syracuse named it around 387 BC after the word for “elbow,” the shape of its harbor. Monte Conero rises straight out of the Adriatic here, one of the few mountains on Italy’s east coast to do so, and its national park has some of Italy’s best beaches, like Due Sorelle, many reachable only by boat or hiking trail. 

Inland, Loreto draws over a million pilgrims a year to the Santa Casa, encased in gold and marble inside a basilica full of Renaissance art. Fabriano has made paper by hand for more than 750 years and is a UNESCO Creative City, and just north of it are the Frasassi Caves, Italy’s largest karst cave system, which you’ll explore on Italy Uncorked.

Best food: Fabriano is known for its honey and for Salame di Fabriano, made from pork thigh and shoulder between late September and early May and aged at least 60 days. It was even mentioned in an 1877 letter signed by Giuseppe Garibaldi.

Top wines in Ancona:

• Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi (a seafood favorite that often appears on our tasting menus)
• Rosso Conero
• Lacrima di Morro d’Alba

5. Pesaro-Urbino

Urbino is the birthplace of Raphael and home to the Palazzo Ducale, one of Italy’s best-preserved Renaissance palaces and part of Urbino’s UNESCO World Heritage historic center since 1998. 

On the coast, Pesaro is Le Marche’s second-largest city and the birthplace of composer Gioachino Rossini, with music events all year. Many of the province’s best spots are easiest to reach by car, so it’s a great way to add a few days before or after our tours.

Best food: Acqualagna hosts one of Italy’s largest truffle fairs every November, where hunters bring their prized black and white truffles to sell (pack layers, because November weather inland can turn fast). 

Try Casciotta di Urbino, a soft DOP cheese made from sheep’s and cow’s milk, and Prosciutto di Carpegna, cured in the Carpegna area since the 15th century and a regular on the charcuterie boards at our wine tastings.

Top wines in Pesaro-Urbino:

• Bianchello del Metauro
• Colli Pesaresi Sangiovese
• Pergola Rosso

Le Marche is Calling Your Name

Italy is a treat for the senses, and the region Le Marche is no exception. With cuisine that tells a story of a rich culinary and cultural past dating back to Roman times, it’s no wonder Le Marche has landed on your bucket list.

Bordered by Tuscany, Lazio, Abruzzo, Umbria, and Emilia-Romagna, and drawing on its neighbors, Le Marche’s picturesque landscapes, deep history, and cuisine give it a unique identity that sets the scene for an authentic Italian experience beyond the typical tourist destinations. Welcoming locals, whom you’ll meet on your small group Italy tour with us, treat you like family, leaving you forever touched by the territory we call home.

When you join one of our select Italy tours, you’ll explore places not found in guidebooks, be treated like family in the homes of locals you meet on your trip with us, immerse yourself in the rich Italian culture, and savor the flavors of traditional cuisine. 

Say goodbye to overcrowded tourist traps and get ready to experience the real Italy when you tour one of Italy’s best-kept secrets with us!