Area Guide For your Holiday in Le Marche

Events  I   Festivals  I   Markets  I   Maps  I   Regional Guide  I  Trains  I   Travel  I     Opera   I  Art   I  Beaches  I   Mountains  I   Skiing  I   Things to See     Childrens Activities     Markets   Travel & Getting About      Shopping      Exhibitions    Tours    Courses  Wine Tourism Le Marche in Central Italy neighbours Tuscany, Umbria, Emilia Romagna and Abruzzo. Possibly because of its famous neighbours  Marche has remained virtually untouched by tourism until a few years ago. It is only now becoming discovered by foreigners and word is only now beginning to filter through of all this exquisite region has to offer. Its  biggest landmark in the cultural sense is Urbino in Northern Le Marche. The birth place of  Raphael and a buzzing university walled city its makes for a fascinating cultural tour. The regional capital Ascoli Piceno is an elegant ancient town with a full itinerary of interesting cultural treats, a number of excellent restaurants and a beautiful main piazza   famous  art deco Café Miletti providing a perfect place for an aperitivo watching the beautiful people go by. Loreto is the most important pilgrimage destination in Europe besides Lourdes. Here is a fascinating church which houses Our Lady's childhood home. Legend has it that it was miraculously transported  to Loreto from Jerusalem. Loreto like so many of the towns in the area is beautiful and picturesque and not to be missed. Le Marche is literally full of medieval hill top towns which are living, thriving places for the most part. Inhabited and a crucial part of every day life the villages have bars, shops, restaurants and fascinating churches with astonishing  art treasures. The area is a cultural treat and many towns have tiny restored theatres where plays and recitals regularly take place. Macerata is a beautiful provincial city in central Le Marche which holds a spectacular open air opera season every summer in the Sferisterio. These are truly memorable evenings preceded by an excellent dinner in one of the many fine restaurants in the city. The ancient walled provincial city  boasts smart shops, cool bars, excellent coffee and fine dining. The summer and Autumn are times of celebration of the harvest and there are hundreds of Sagras and Festas to attend. Enjoy a plate of polenta and join in the ball room dancing in the piazza. The food of Le Marche is another source of huge enjoyment. The hills of the region being the foot hills of the mighty Sibillini mountains the food is mountain influenced. Truffles, wild mushrooms, chestnuts, wild boar abound here. The food is hand prepared not mass produced, buying and eating local produce just a way of life, the normal way. The grilled meats from the wood burning fires are again locally sourced sometimes alarmingly so and tastes wonderfully succulent. The pasta is normally hand prepared and is light and abundant. It would take a very sorry soul not to become passionate about the regions food. The pizzas well there is nothing to say as they are perfect. The region also benefits greatly from having extremely good wine, both white and red. The Conero and Piceno  reds are deep, gutsy smooth wines alot of them made to a very high standard. The whites are crisp, apply and sometimes oaky buttery Verdichios and light crisp Falerios David and Fiona have written an English restaurant guide of the area with wine appraisal. We try to ensure each house has a copy always there so that you can get out there and make the most of the treats in store. The coastal area of Le Marche is for the most part typical Italian beaches, flat, long and sandy, very clean, with beds and umbrellas on daily hire. Stacks of very good restaurants serving mostly fresh fish dishes line the pavements and overlook the beaches. The swimming is safe as are the beaches attended by guards with creches facilities for children. On the Conero peninsula close to Ancona the capital of Le Marche you can find relatively unknown and stunning beaches  with superb restaurants and top class hotels. These beaches are craggy, sandy or pebbles. Shopping is unavoidable to all but the most strict in Le Marche. This is the place to buy designer shoes, leather goods and clothes.  Designer outlets offer their goods at up to 1/2 off retails price. Tod's, Prada, Hugo boss, Armani to name a few. The beauty of the region lies in its geography, hills and mountains offering stunning, spectacular views  and the diversity of coast line versus hills and mountains. The mountains are covered in wild flowers in May and June, snow covered until March. There are several ski resorts with good facilities and runs. www.sibillini.net Lake Fiastra is an enormous, fresh water lake with clear blue water and safe swimming. There are good restaurants, bars and shops at the lake and apart from August no one there. Trekking and horse riding and quad biking are all available. On clear days so can see 40 miles, its a perfect place for a picnic and a snooze. Take a trip to Umbria through the mountains and see the awesome plain where lentils are farmed. Go trekking and stay over night in a rifugio. Le Marche is text book Italy, sheep bells and church bells, old men in coffee bars, vegetable vans selling local produce, hot, lazy days and siestas, simple, delicious heaps of food, smart shops, opera, beautiful people, bent old ladies leaving church, ice creams late at night, star studded skies, cypress trees on a hill, vines, olive trees and barking dogs, crickets, and sunflowers. Le Marche really does encompass all this but without the tour buses, trooping tourists and queues. The people of the region are gentle, funny and genuine with a love for their home, a rightful pride in it and take huge pleasure in sharing it with us stranieri. They adore children and greet them with open arms, often literally. Anyone who has already discovered Le Marche is secretive about it, we all want to keep it to ourselves. Italian Idyll clients are more than welcome however and we hope you will visit time and again and tell your friends.....well a few  select ones anyway. For  information on the region  please click onto the regional guide and our own web site la Vita. Useful Links page    www.lavitalemarche.com www.sibillini.net www.le-marche.com