Marche - Amordivino

Marche

Population: 1.450.879
Surface (Kmq): 9694
Density (inhabitants/Kmq.): 150
Main city: Ancona (AN)
Other towns: Ascoli Piceno (AP); Macerata (MC); Pesaro e Urbino (PU).

The magical setting of Marche inspired poets such as Leopardi, Stendhal, Goethe, Montaigne and Montesquieu, thanks to a mixture of gentle hills with small settlements located on towering peaks. The Italian Marches (Marche) are bounded by the Adriatic Sea to the east, the region of Umbria to the west, the region of Emilia-Romagna (and the Republic of San Marino) to the north. It borders the beginnings of southern Italy to the south, where it meets Abruzzo. A narrow coastal plain forms the eastern seaboard of central Italy, rising sharply to the Apennines, the backbone of Italy, so there is some spectacular sightseeing here with the limestone peaks pitted by deep gorges and caves and dramatic torrents of water pouring into stone pools beneath. There is180km of coastline full of beautiful beaches with resorts such as the elegant old town of Pesaro and Fano in the north, Grottammare, Pedaso and San Benedetto del Tronto in the south.

The region of Marche was part of the territory that extended inland along the eastern bank of the Tiber river and up north all the way to the Po Valley. The area was occupied by the Umbri (from the Greek Ombrikoi) and the Picentes (Greeks who called part of the region Picenum) from early Paleolithic times.

Colonised and organised by the Romans in the 3rd century B.C., the area was invaded by the Goths after the fall of the Roman Empire. In the 6th century, the northern part of today's Marche, including the cities of Ancona, Fano, Pesaro, and Senigallia, in addition to adjoining territories, came under Byzantine rule. The southern section became part of the powerful Lombard duchy of Spoleto. In the 8th century, the region was donated to the papacy in two steps, first by Pepin the Short, the first Carolingian king of the Franks, in 754 and then by his son Charlemagne in 774. The papacy rule though, was largely nominal and later emperors granted various fiefs in the area to faithful underlings until the 13th century.

The name Marche, or “boundaries”, came into use around the 10th century because the fiefs of Ancona, Fermo and Camerino were established at the border of the Holy Roman Empire. Despite the fighting between the popes and the emperors over the control of the region, some cities established free communes or were governed by noble families, including the Malatesta, the Varano, and the Montefeltro. However, from the 13th to the 16th centuries, the popes gradually reestablished their political rule in the Marche and ended local autonomy. After being occupied briefly by the French from 1797 to 1815, it was restored to the papacy until 1860. For a period of time Marche was joined to the kingdom of Sardinia along with Umbria and Tuscany. Ancona is the region's capital. To the right is Ascoli Piceno.