 Things to do on your holidays in Le Marche
This page aims to give you with great ideas of what to do on your holiday in Le Marche. Just follow the links in this page or read and follow the snippets at the bottom of this page.
If you are prepared to take some time out from relaxing around the villa or days on Le Marche's beaches, then the wonderful Le Marche landscape provides visitors to this incredible part of Italy with the perfect backdrop to a variety of cultural tours, or, outdoor activity and adventure
 Cultural things to do in Le Marche
If you prefer a vacation touring the history and culture of the local area or visiting a place of pilgrimage, we have provided an overview of some of the museums, sightseeing highlights and some suggested itineraries and tours for your visit to Le Marche. We can also arrange for you to volunteer to dig and excavate the impressive Roman Ruins at Urbisaglia on your holiday. Alternatively, why not try an art and Craft Holiday in Italy, we offer courses that include Icon painting, renaissance art painting, furniture making using Green Wood and Contemporary Mosaic Design.
Outlet Shopping in Le Marche
For those of you looking for a bustling place to pick up fresh local produce or wanting to haggle for that bargain antique then don't miss our markets page. If you want to go upmarket, then our directory and map of designer outlets will help you source cut-price Italian chic on your Le Marche vacation. If you fancy making a bigger purchase and dream of returning to Le Marche on a regular basis, then maybe you fancy buying a house in Le Marche.
Thank you for a wonderful fortnight at VSR, from paragliding to rafting we have had an adventurous yet relaxing holiday- Lovely home grown produce and great company.
John, Anne-Marie, Conor, Anne & Catherine- Belfast
Outdoor & sporty things to do in Le Marche
For fans, players and punters, looking for things to do in Le Marche, we have our sports page and for the more adventurous extreme sports. Alternatively, if you fancy other activity in the local Marche Sibillini mountains then we can offer walking and hiking holidays together with local facilities and itineries for horse riders and cyclists.
Festas & things to do in Le Marche at night
Better still, if you have relaxed sufficiently during the day and are still looking for what to do in Le Marche, you should be in fine fettle for a night out at a festa or other outdoor event. In Italy these occur almost every night during the height of the summer (see Summer 2011 events in Marche) and normally involve al-fresco eating, drinking and dancing, with themes ranging from Historical Pageants to heats of the Miss Italia competition.
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Art, Craft & Painting Holidays in Le Marche Italy
 The alchemy of art: the methods and materials of the Italian masters
Italian Art holiday Course outline: This specialist Italy art holiday course introduces participants to the techniques of the master painters from the medieval and Renaissance periods in Italy. From grinding pigments to the formulation of traditional recipes from egg tempera to watercolour and oil paint, the tutor demonstrates how essential this careful preparation was to all the great masters. The technique of preparing a gesso panel and gilding with gold is also taught which participants will use in creating a painting of their choice inspired by the frescoes in the surrounding area. Participants on alchemy of art-painting holidays in italy will gain a thorough grounding in traditional materials and techniques, the principles underlying them, and the spiritual alchemical meanings behind the processes. 
Tutor: This painting holiday in Italy is organised through Montanaro Circle and led by Idries Trevathan an artist and a trained art conservator. Through his art & conservation efforts he has been presented with a variety of awards which include; the National Association of Decorative & Fine Arts Societies (NADFAS), the Zibby Garnett Fellowship and the Knights of the Round Table award, the Hamad Bin Khalifa Fellowship and most recently a Getty award to present his paper at the International Institute for Conservation.
 Mosaic making
Art holidays in Italy linking us to our Roman roots
Course outline: An art holiday that is both a practical and spiritual exploration into the arrangements of individual parts to form a collective whole. You will be trained on essential mosaic techniques and a wealth of inspiration, You will learn to harness your creativity through a series of practical techniques. You will experiment with figurative and non figurative design, colour and tone, texture and reflection and form and repetition. With a day out to Ravenna, the historically famed centre for mosaic production, this course will enable you to unleash your inner mosaicist. By the end of the week you will have a mosaic piece of your very own to take home with you.
Organised through Montanaro Circle, tutor: Ben Craven. Ben attended a foundation course at Wimbledon followed by an B.A. Hons degree in Fine Art at Winchester School of Art. Having finishing his training, he opened Brighton's first mosaic studio.
Woodwork: the art of green wood
Course outline: A Craft holiday in Italy Green woodworking involves the use of freshly felled trees and involves a number of woodland crafts, including turning and carving. On this art break you will learn to use a foot lathe, which is the traditional method used to turn green (unseasoned) wood with little effort and without the noise, dust, or danger involved with modern industrialised turning. This art course will engage participants with the entire process of woodwork from sourcing and preparing the wood to the finished work of art. By the end of the week will have some of your own hand crafted creations to take home with you.
This art break in Italy is suitable for everyone. Maximum group size: 10. Week overview: Participants arrive on the Saturday afternoon and will be welcomed by their hosts. The lessons start on Sunday 10am-1pm with a break for lunch, then an afternoon session from 3-5pm. Thursday is a free time day for relaxing or exploring the local area.
Italian Art break arranged through Montanaro Circle. Tutor: Tom Harding, the son of a potter and a silver smith, was weaned on the importance of good design and skilled craftsmanship. Tom trained at City in Guilds in Cabinet Making where he learned the art of furniture making and has been a successful furniture maker in his own right with commissions for a number of bespoke pieces for important clients.
 Italian Art holidays- Icon Painting
Course outline: This art course will introduce participants to the egg tempera on gesso technique, practiced by the Prosopon School of Iconology. Students on Icon Painting art breaks in Italy will learn to use traditional earth and mineral pigments, made of semi-precious stones and rare minerals, such as lapis, malachite, cinnabar and azurite. Participants will be taken through the techniques of gold leaf gilding and icon painting, with the aim of completing a small icon in Russo-Byzantine style by the end of the course.
This art break in Italy is suitable for everyone. Minimum group 2 persons Maximum group size: 10.
Italy Painting holiday Tutor: Irina is one of the leading icon painters in Europe. Irina's Icons can be found in churches and private collections
PRICES FOR ALL COURSES €999 per person (sharing a 750 square foot two roomed apartment) minimum 2 people. Price for 3 people = €799, 4 persons €649, 5 persons €599, 6 persons or more €549
INCLUDED 7 nights accommodation, all tuition and course materials.
NOT INCLUDED Flights, lunches and evening meals. Airport transfers These can be arranged at 60e per person each way- but we highly recommend you rent your own car so you can discover the area in your free time.)
All Art, Craft and Painting holidays are arranged through Montanaro Circle |
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Car driving in Italy, laws, rules, regulations, enforcement & fines
 What we would say about rules for driving in Italy is that you must drive with lights on at all times, seatbelts on at all times, and have in your posession all relevant documentation, a warning triangle and a reflective jacket. Regular roadside stops are quite common in Italy; if you are unlucky enough to be stopped whilst driving on holiday in Italy, you must have all insurance and rental docs available plus your driving licence. 
If you have all the documents, have your lights on, are all wearing belts and were not speeding then even if there is a little used booster seat rule and you happen to be unlucky enough to find the one policeman in all of Italy who is enforcing it then you just say "sono inglese/irlandese/americano/ollandese..., non parlo italiano" and wave your hands a bit and I'm positive that they wont press the issue. I'm sure the Italian rental car companies in Italy know this as well, but are cashing in all the same.
If you do break one of these Italian driving laws then fines are on the spot and usually about €40-€70 for lights, lack of documents or seat belts and €100 upward for speeding and likely to add points to your driving licence.
 Kids car booster seats in Italy
There are many articles on line about kids car booster seats in Italy, but I have never seen any of the local families using them and in 7 years never heard of an Italian kids car booster seat law being enforced, that is, if there is a law. We never used child car booster seats for our children, who were 7 & 9 when we first arrived, and we have friends with 5 kids who are stopped quite regularly, they have no booster seats and have never been fined. So if you are concerned with the law on childrens booster seats in Italy, we would say that its unlikely to be an issue, if you wish to do it for safety reasons that is another matter. Here is the AAs advice about driving in Italy , and an article from expats in Italy on the subject of childs car booster seats in Italy which seems to indicate that it may be a common EU law but one that is never enforced in Italy.
Cut your Italian car rental costs and use these driving tips on a holiday to the stunning region of Le Marche
 The above tips for car driving in Italy are our own views formed from many years of life in Italy and you may find that law enforcement may differ from region to region. The Italian driving tips aim will hopefully help you make decisions about which hire car company to use in Italy, what driving douments to bring and what to rent. We would recommend performing an Italy car hire cost comparison before choosing a car rental company in Italy and hope that it helps you cut the cost of your holiday or vacation in Italy. We really recommend that you consider the stunning Le Marche region of Italy and consider a holiday at Villa San Raffaello a converted farmhouse in Sarnano, named one of the most beautiful villages in Italy,
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Find out about the geography and history of Urbs Salvia Roman ruins at Urbisaglia in Le Marche Italy. Volunteer for archaeological excavations whilst on your holiday in Le Marche; we can arrange transport, access to hidden areas on the site and can even combine these with historical tours of the area using a highly knowledgable guide.
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When you visit Le Marche you will inevitably be struck by the wonderful, the rich cultural heritage, the historic architecture and the quality of the local produce. But we'd like to help you get under Le Marche's skin, meeting local artisans and experiencing the true flavour of rural life on a trip or a tour.
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Museums and Galleries in Le Marche Italy
There are museums in many of the Le Marche towns near the villa, this page is dedicated to those that are within easy reach. However, there are many more museums listed on the sites for Macerata and Ascoli Provinces and on the regional web site for Le Marche.
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We have clustered together points of interest in Le Marche that are located in similar locations to provide you with touring itineraries that we think you'd enjoy and are within easy reach of our Le Marche Villa .
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Our Le Marche Villa is ideally positioned for an Italian cycling holiday or mountain biking holidays. Situated on the edge of the Sibillini Mountains National Park and 2km from the medieval town of Sarnano, this wonderful area of Le Marche, Italy has vast networks of trails and old mule tracks that are ideal terrain for cycling holidays.
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There are endless numbers of designers and manufacturers of stylish fashions in Le Marche and most of them have a designer outlet where you can pick up fashions at a discount. This page is dedicated to a few of the designer outlets that are within easy reach of the villa.
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Our Le Marche Villa is equi-distant from two very important places of Christian pilgrimage, Loreto; home to Mary's house brought here brick by brick from Nazareth and also Assisi, home of Saint Francis. There are many other important churches and places of pilgrimage in the area. Here are a few highlights.
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Le Marche hosts 'festas' or outdoor celebrations, games, concerts and dancing most weekends from Spring to Christmas and during the Summer these also occur on most weekdays as neighbouring villages compete in throwing the best party.
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The Adriatic Coast or the Adriatic riviera of Le Marche consists of 180km of beautiful, clean, safe beaches. and is within easy reach of the Villa and Sarnano.
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Street fairs selling antiques, bric-a-brac, the not-so-old stuff that's known in Italy as modernariato, and even what some might label as junk have become popular across the peninsula and over twenty towns in Le Marche now have a regular antiques market.
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Whilst driving and touring Le Marche and its wonderful landscape you will discover many preserved medieval centres or centro storico in the Marche villages and towns.
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We have put the Italian family model at the heart of our holidays in Italy, the villa is equipped with their happiness in mind. If you can drag the children away from the villa and the pool, volleyball or badminton, the swings, climbing frame and slide, then the local town of Sarnano has a good childrens playground and crazy golf, plus football pitches and a tennis court, this page has some great ideas for other fun family days out in the local part of Marche region.
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Most visitors to Italy love to visit medieval villages, admiring the art, culture, history and food, travelling through the glorious countryside they often remark on it's incredible beauty. However, to really get under the skin of Italy and beautiful Le Marche and understand the way the people live you should try hiking Italy off the beaten track and immersing yourself on a italian walking holiday amongst Le Marche's wonderful flora and fauna.
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Whether your Italian holiday to Le Marche is for relaxation purposes, or, you are a serious adrenaline junkie, we have listed below a range of suggestions for sports and extreme sports that you can watch or participate in near the Villa in Le Marche. Alternatively, if you are coming on a family holiday to Italy we have a page dedicted to a range of child friendly activities.
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What's on in Sarnano & Macerata, Le Marche 2011
Free Time
