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The Marche - Italy in one region.

This section serves as a brief introduction to this largely undiscovered region of the central Italy - The Marches (Le Marche).

'Italy's best kept secret', so they say.

180 km of coastline, stunningly beautiful beaches, 26 cities facing the Adriatic Sea that are ideal sites for a relaxing holiday, the port of Ancona and 9 tourist harbours. 500 Piazzas, 1000 important monuments, over 100 cities boasting great works of art, thousands of churches (200 of which are Romanesque), 163 religious shrines, 34 archaeological sites, 71 historical theatres. The largest number of museums and galleries in Italy:246 out of 246 boroughs. 315 libraries housing over 4 million volumes. Several protected areas: 2 national parks (Monte Sibillini, Gran Sasso and monti della Laga), 4 regional parks (Monte Conero, Sasso Simone and Simoncello, Monte San Bartolo, Gola della Rossa and di Frasassi), 3 nature reserves (abbadia di Fiastra, Gola del furlo and Mantagnadi Torricchio). More than 100 floristic areas and 15 state woods.

It's not unusual to see comments along the lines of 'Oh yes, Le Marche - like Tuscany was twenty or thirty years ago' and suchlike. The region of Le Marche - The Marches - is indeed a fascinating one, rich with stunning countryside and splendid architecture, cuisine and tradition, and yet it is much less touched by tourism than its better knowm neighbours.

No bad thing, of course - emptier roads and beaches, quieter countryside and less packed restaurants, and prices that compare extremely well with other and better known regions.

There are numerous seaside resorts, some truly monumental castles, dozens of fascinating hilltop towns and villages, skiing and health spas and some beautiful natural scenery.

"If one had to decide which italian landscape was the most typical you'd have to choose the Marche...Italy, with its range of landscapes, is a distillation of the world: the Marche is a distillation of Italy." (G.Piovene, viaggio in Italia, 1957)

ANCONA

ASCOLI , CINGOLI AND PORTO NOVO (A great windsurfing spot for anybody interested!!)

FRASSASI, MONDAVIO AND NUMANA

THIS PAGE SERVES AS AN INTRODUCTION TO SOME BEACH TOWNS AND DESCRIBES THE MAIN BEACHES OF MONTE CONERO - as you will see some of the most beautiful beaches around.

Sirolo is the most attractive, with a spruce medieval centre and a tree-lined, balcony piazza that teeters high above the sea. The small town is in the middle of Conero. The Greeks were the first "tourists". Those visitors from a far found everything that they were searching for in the mountain that seemed to emerge from the sea: a safe piace to dock and repair their ships in silent solitary bays, and a natural reserve of abundant fauna. Today it is headquarters to the Regional Park, the visitor must pass through a small forest to reach its small but enchanting beaches. A grand appointment that is spectacular summer holds in store for this area: a theatrical review, staged in an old quarry converted into an arena. This small town is very elegant. Many famous people come to spend their Summer here.

The most renowned places are its Belvedere Square, the church of Santissimo Sacramento (with a bas-relief of the 15th-century carved in its small portal), the "Grotta Urbani" and the "Due Sorelle" which can be reached only by boat. As far as concerns the "Due Sorelle", they can be considered as sort of distant relatives to the famous Faraglioni of Capri and are one of the most traditional destination for tourists.

Historic Notes: the town's origins date back to remote times, which recent archaeological finds sate back to over one hundred thousand years ago. According to tradition the name comes from Sirio, a mediaeval condottiere who received as a gift the site on which the castle was built by Belisarius, after the victory over the Goths in 560. The area was already inhabited in Roman times, as a dependence of the municipium of Umana. Around the eleventh century it was fortified by the Cortesi family.

Monuments: Abbey of San Pietro al Conero, Church of the Madonna del Rosario, Parish church of San Nicolò, mediaeval walls with the Torrione, Teatro Cortesi, Villa Vetta Marina, streets of the old town centre.
Sirollo

Numana is placed on one of the most beautiful parts of the Adriatic coast. From its gardens of Piazza Nova you can see standing out to the north the magnificent limestone headland of Monte Conero, the central area of the park of the same name.

The town is divided in two for the inhabitants: Numana Alta and Numana Bassa.
The first represents the oldest part with its houses of white limestone the narrow streets of the area of the "Tower", the Bishops palace, today the seat of the town council and the piazza.

The second is as you might say the younger. Here you will find infact the tourist porticciolo and the beach equipped with sunbeds and umbrellas. More to the south rises the hamlet of Marcelli, a more modern area where you can experience the Numanian lively night-life So Numana becomes a good amalgamation of ancient and modern. A town in which you may pass the time enjoyably and cheerfully on the beach or in the silence of the alleys of the old city where sometimes, at dawn it is said, you can still hear the ancient calls of the old fishermen who are preparing to go trawling "sciabiga".

NUMANA

The most industrialised Commune of the Cònero area stands on a hill surrounded by vineyards, but it also hosts a hydrotherapy centre immersed in the green - the Terme dell'Aspio - with bromide-iodine salt springs. In Camerano there are important furniture, textile and plastic manufacturers. In September there is the festival of Rosso Cònero, a controlled denomination of origin wine that takes its name from the area where the grapes are harvested

CAMERANO