The Best of Le Marche

Le Marche is perhaps the most picturesque region of Italy. Discover my guide to the best of le Marche. From San Leo to Ascoli Piceno I’ll show you the places the tourists haven't yet discovered.



Le Marche Italy is located on the East Italian coast, sandwiched between the Appenines and the Adriatic, halfway down the boot. Le Marche, like Piedmont, has really begun to open up with the onset of cheap flights and Travel Deals are a lot easier to find here than in most other Italian regions.

Where to Begin?

The Marches, to give the region its English name, is a scenically beautiful region of Italy and one rich in tradition and history.

Best of all is that it is still relatively unknown outside of Italy and ten years ago it was part of Italy that was completely new to me.

My discovery of the region happened about a year after moving to Piedmont in the north of Italy. Some friends suggested that my wife and I join them on a holiday and together we decided to rent a house in le Marche. The house we rented is still there and is now available on my site (see the third house on this page).

Since then my love for this region has continued to grow, this area and Piedmont are the places in Italy that I know best and love most. I now visit often and have good friends here. In fact the wonderful handmade shoes I offer elsewhere on this site are made by one of these friends. His family, as is so common in le Marche, have been doing the same thing for generations.

This part of Italy is essentially a microcosm of Italy, the best of le Marche encompasses all the best aspects of Italian living. The region is characterized by small intimate cities like Ancona, Ascoli Piceno and Macerata, none larger than, 100,000 inhabitants.

The Le Marche Coast

Ancona is often your place of arrival with many great flight deals from all over the world on offer.

By the way for a great Italian airport map and other useful information/maps etc visit goitaly.about.com. Though I am getting a little off subject their guides to regions like Molise are great.

Back to Ancona - the city is okay and if you stay overnight make sure you eat at the Ristorante Osteria Teatro Strabacco featured in my Restaurant Guide.

My Favourite Towns

Ascoli Piceno is lovely - a definite favourite. The food is excellent and there is much to see. A small city of around 50,000 Ascoli Piceno dates back to before Roman times when it was the capital of Piceno. Urbino , the ancient hill town of San Leo and Mondavio are awe-inspiring and it was here, nearly nine years ago, that we rented our first Marche villa together with friends. Since then we have not been able to avoid coming back to the best of le Marche, year after year. Urbino, Mondavio and San Leo, like almost the entire Marche area, are virtually tourist free, especially out of season.

Once you visit these places you will keep coming back until you eventually buy a holiday home here. Once you have seen this beautiful place it can’t be avoided and le Marche will change your life forever!!!


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