Getting to Le Marche from abroad by air:  

The low fares airline RyanAir flies daily from London Stansted and - from autumn 2006 - Liverpool to the region's own airport, Ancona Falconara.

Both Alitalia and British Airways offer daily flights to Bologna airport (2-3 hours by car to Ancona). Easyjet from summer 2006 flies to Rimini and Ryanair also flies to Forli which it dubs "Bologna Forli" though it's half-way between Bologna and Rimini. Prices vary dramatically according to season and type of ticket - shop around for the best deal.

Rome airport (3 hours by car to Ancona) offers a wide choice of airlines.

Getting around when you're here

by rail:  The Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), the Italian State Railways has two main lines in the Marche - the coastal Milan-Bari line that links up most of the seaside resorts and the trans-Italy Ancona-Rome line that joins up a few of the larger towns in the central part of the region. The rest of the Marche, however, is poorly served.

by car:  Unless you intend to stay put in one of the larger towns, a car is the key to discovering the Marche. If you can't bring your own, hire one with your airline ticket. 

taxis:  Metered taxis are easily available in most larger places - you'll usually find them in ranks by the station or by the main square. Fares, which are always displayed, vary according to location, and like taxis across Europe are not cheap. For long journeys in country areas agree the price beforehand.

by bus:  While a few of the larger centres are served by trains, much of rural Marche relies on a good network of private bus services. Comfortable modern coaches are used but fares are often more expensive than train. Timetables and routes, usually tailored to the needs of school children rather than tourists, are available from tourist information offices or local town halls. Sunday services are thin on the ground.

Geography

The Marche (also known as the Marches in English) form the eastern seaboard of central Italy with the regions of Emilia-Romagna to the north and Abruzzo to the south. From the relatively narrow coastal plains the land rises sharply to the peaks of the Appennines which form a natural boundary with Umbria and Tuscany to the west.

While the coastal areas are heavily populated the beautiful inland countryside is sparsely inhabited. The total population of the region is around 1.5 million with an average density of less than 150 inhabitants per square kilometre. The region covers just under 10,000 square kilometres.

The inland mountainous zones are mostly limestone and are noted for bare peaks, rushing torrents, dramatic gorges and many complexes of caves. In contrast, the areas nearer the coastal plain are celebrated for their fertile rounded hills topped by ancient fortified towns.

The highest point in the Marche is Monte Vettore in the Sibillini mountains at 2,476 metres. The coast itself boasts long sandy strands; apart from the limestone Conero peninsula, it is virtually all flat.

Economically, the region is mostly reliant on medium and small scale productive industries, often family run. Shoes, clothing and furniture manufacture are amongst the most successful businesses. The relatively poor soil and the general movement away from the land has meant that agriculture now plays a minor role, apart from the production of Verdicchio, the Marche's famous white wine in the central areas. By the coast, fishing remains an important activity.

Beside the Seaside

The Marche region has 180 kilometres of Adriatic coastline and a host of inviting seaside resorts if you want to spend a week or two al mare.

There are basically two types of beach resort in the Marche. First there are the bigger centres with a lively atmosphere, busy nightlife, plenty of visitors from abroad and nose-to-tail hotels along the prom. Good examples include (from north to south) Gabicce Mare, Pesaro, Senigallia, and San Benedetto del Tronto.

Then there are the many more smaller resorts with less spectacular beaches and more rented villa/apartment accommodation rather than hotels. These places are often filled for the short summer season by Italian families, often inland marchigiani, who return each year. The adults will always sigh that they're doing it for the bambini but secretly love it. And there's always the mobile telefonino so they can pretend to be in the office.

A couple of places that don't fit into either category are the resorts nestling under the rocky peninsular of Monte Conero. Here you'll find rocky coves and white limestone cliffs totally unlike any other stretch of the Adriatic from Trieste in the north to Italy's "spur" at Gargano in the south.

All the resorts in the region have a very short season; basically they're only crowded from mid-July to the third week of August. Come in mid-June or right at the end of August/early September and you'll have plenty of room with reasonably reliable weather. Most places are pretty well closed up from mid-September through to mid-May.

Although all resorts have a stretch or two of free public beach (spiaggia libera), it's often at the least attractive end of the strand and is rarely as clean as the bits where you pay. Anyway, if you want the real Italian beach experience choose from one of the many pay sections with their ranks of umbrellas and sun beds. They're usually not that expensive, have all the facilities you could want and are the best place to see Italians up close. If you're staying at a hotel, free access to one of the beach concessions is usually included in the price.

Le Marche can boast one of the highest number of Blue Flag beaches of any region in Italy. The prestigious Blue Flag is awarded  by the Foundation for Environmental Education to environmentally well-kept beaches across Europe. The important "eco-label" is given to sites that meet strict criteria including water quality, environmental management, safety and other services.

The region's eleven towns with Blue Flag beaches in 2006 are, from north to south, Gabicce Mare, Pesaro, Fano, Senigallia, Sirolo, Numana, Porto Recanati, Civitanova Marche, Porto San Giorgio, Grottammare, and San Benedetto del Tronto.

National Parks

Wherever you may find yourself in the Marche, the Apennine mountains are never very far away. They form the region's western border and offer some of its finest scenery as well as providing a home for some of Italy's most fascinating wildlife. Large areas have now been designated natural parks.

The Parco Naturale dei Monti Sibillini, in the southwest corner, is the region's largest park, spreading over 40 km of mountain peaks and continuing westwards into Umbria. The mountains take their name from a legend that one of the sibyls hid here in a cave on Monte Sibilla known as Grotta delle Fate (Cave of the Furies) when she was chased out of the underworld.

Monte Vettore (2476 mts), at the centre of the park, is the highest mountain in the Region. The huge rocky walls and crags in its eastern side, with such eerie names as Pizzo del Diavolo (Devil's Beard) and Gola dell'Infernaccio (Hell's Gorge), are every bit as dramatic as the landscape of the Dolomites.

The most unusual feature of the area, however, is the vast area of upland plain called the Piano Grande to the west. In May and June, this huge expanse of treeless plateau, 1250 mts above sea level, eight kilometres long and five wide, is transformed into a carpet of wild flowers. Among the poppies you'll find wild tulips and exotic alpine flowers such as carex buxbaumii.

The mountains which frame it are also a botanist's paradise. Alpine Edelweiss (Leontopodion nivale), martagon lily, bear berry, Apennine cinquefoil  and alpine buckthorn are just some of the species here. The park is also rich in bird life - buzzards, kestrels, sparrow hawks as well as rare sightings of golden eagle, peregrine falcon, rock partridge, eagle owl and chough.

The Torricchio Riserva Naturale, just north of the Monte Sibillini park, is a small World Wildlife Fund reserve covering around 300 hectares (800 acres). The Val di Tazza at its centre is a narrow gorge flanked by the wooded slopes of Monte Torricchio (1444 mts) and Monte Fema (1575 mts). The area is particularly rich in flowers - white asphodel, orchids, cyclamen, wild strawberries - which attract many interesting species of butterfly, including the rare alcon blue (Maculinea alcon), which some naturalists regard as a specie all of its own and which is in danger of extinction. Animals include badgers, red squirrels, wildcats and the occasional wolf.

Monte Conero, just south of Ancona provides the only really rugged coastline in the Marche, rising spectacularly out of the sea to a height of just over 500 metres. It's position half way up the Italian peninsula has made it an important meeting point for many species of northern and southern European maritime flora, including rarities like Bellevalia dubia, Fumana arabica and Aspodeline liburnica. The park boasts over a thousand species of wild plants, as well as a rich bird life. And if that's not enough, the views out over the sea are stunning.

There is another nature reserve inland, near the Cistercian abbey of Fiastra. Here the wildlife includes deer, beech-marten, sparrow-hawk, tawny owl, hoopoe and green woodpecker.

The Gola della Rossa-Frasassi regional park, in the area of Genga, is a series of towering limestone gorges which provide the rocky habitat for several golden eagles as well as peregrine falcons and eagle owls. The Frasassi caves, in the heart of the area, are the longest and among the most interesting in Italy with a 240 m high central chamber which is  large enough to comfortably hold Milan cathedral.

Below the peaks of Monte Catria and Nerone, the Bosco Tecchie woodland park near Cantiano protects many species of mountain wildlife, including deer, wild boar, porcupine, wolf, buzzard, woodpecker and honey buzzard.

The sheer limestone crags of the Furlo Gorge, to the East, are home for a family of Golden Eagles.

In the northern Marche, the beech woods of Pianacquadio, in the Sasso Simone and Simoncello Regional Park, protect several species of wildlife including deer, fox, badger, beech-marten, heron and Montagu's harrier.

The Colle San Bartolo Regional Park, near Gabicce on the Northern Marche coast, offers guided tours of areas of marshland which are the winter habitat of the herring gull, the Mediterranean gull and the cormorant.

Dining and Cuisine

Cooking in the Marche is deeply rooted in peasant tradition and remains impervious to the arrival of frozen bastoncini di pesce (fish fingers). Here the home cook rather than the professional chef rules and even the smartest restaurants seek to produce food just like nonna, or grandmother, used to make.

The use of fresh, top quality materials assembled with the minimum of fuss marks marchigiano food. But as dishes are strictly based on tradition and local produce, each local area has its distinctive cucina tipica.

As with any rural diet, much use is made of food gathered from the wild; funghi, game, nuts, field herbs and - the area's greatest culinary treasure - truffles are an important feature in the Marche.

Waste, too, is frowned upon, and many of the now most fashionable dishes were first developed to use up such things as stale bread or the less appealing parts of the pig.

Not surprisingly, the best food is still to be had in Marche homes rather than in restaurants. The arrival, however, of tourists in smaller towns and villages has often raised the standards in local restaurants and led to the "rediscovery" of long lost traditional dishes.

The old labels ristorante, trattoria and osteria have become somewhat interchangeable in recent years; many of the smarter, and most expensive places, call themselves osterie and take pride in reinterpreting strictly local dishes with great flair. Many restaurants also double as a pizzeria, but note that pizzas are usually only available in the evening when the wood-fired oven is lit.

Generally, though, a ristorante will at least have a written menu and a broader choice of wines. In trattorie, particularly in country areas, you will often have to cope with a menu rattled off at your table by the proprietor - at your blank looks a son or daughter with some English or French will often be brought out from the back to assist.

Avoid the temptation just to order dishes whose names are familiar to you from back home - you will frequently be missing the best the house has to offer. If you are touring in summer or early autumn, look out for posters advertising the local sagra - a festival dedicated to a town's particular speciality where you can try the food in question in every guise imaginable. We've put a few of the more curious sagre in Marche Voyager's calendar of events.

A word of warning - Italian law requires that you always take your receipt, or ricevuta fiscale, with you from restaurants, bars and shops. The aim is to stop sales tax fraud and plain-clothed tax inspectors do stop people outside places and can fine them if they don't have a proper receipt.

Eating - keep an eye out for...

Official statistics claim that marchigiani eat more meat than any other Italians and it shows. In many country areas going out to a restaurant is basically an excuse to fuel up on enormous platters of charcoal-grilled meats - grigliata mista di carne. Relief, however, is on hand along the Adriatic coast with some of the peninsula's best fish.

For an antipasto, mountain salt-cured ham and lonza (salt-cured fillet of pork) reign supreme. If you see it, also try ciauscolo (a soft, spreadable pork salame).

The classic primo is a generous plate of tagliatelle dressed with a sugo, or meat sauce. The region's unique pasta dish is vincisgrassi, a rich baked lasagna without the usual tomatoes. Urbino is also famous for passatelli, strands of pasta made from breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, and egg cooked in broth. Apart from the ever-present meat grilled alle brace, on embers, delicious stuffed pigeons (piccione ripieno) and rabbit cooked with fennel (coniglio in porchetta) are a Marche speciality. In some areas, stewed snails (lumache) occasionally creep on to the menu.

By the coast, particularly around Ancona, try brodetto, fish stew which must be made with 13 species of fish, no more, no less. Thin spaghetti dressed with vongole, or baby clams, is always good here as is spaghetti allo scoglio, "on the rocks" dressed with seafood.

In the northern Marche look out for piadina, a flat, unleavened bread often served with cold meats at roadside snack-bars. The sheep's' milk pecorino cheese is excellent here and is best eaten in the spring with young raw broad beans or fave. Look out, too, for formaggio di fossa - (a strong-flavoured cheese aged by being walled up in limestone holes in the ground).