Sightseeing & touring on your holidays in Le Marche, Italy

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.

Historical Marche includes well preserved examples of ancient Roman engineering, at nearby Urbisaglia and Falerone and the Late Renaissance flourishes of the Basilica of Loreto and the 'Liberty' style art nouveaux coastal villas at Porto San Giorgio and Civitanova Marche.

If you travel to the South West, the landscape a stones throw away from the villa becomes far more dramatic as the hills are dominated by the Sibillini Mountains. This area, which is protected by the Sibillini National Park, is accessed via some great roads and paths which allow the visitor to discover lakes, rivers, some amazing gorges and wildlife.

Le Marche is also the land of a thousand theatres including the grand 'Sferisterio' amphitheatre in Macerata, which holds 7,000 people and is second only to Verona in Italy's summer open-air opera calendar and a venue for the Macerata festival.

Le Marche also has some of central Italy's finest architectural monuments. It is very difficult to cherry pick from such an abundant crop, but here are a few morsels to make your mouth water.

Abbadia di Fiastra-(25mins)

The Cistercian monastery of Fiastra was founded in 1142, the building material was taken from the near Roman city 'Urbs Salvia' whose farmland stretched 30km to the coast in medieval times. Today the surrounding parkland is still cultivated by the monks and wines and other produce is on sale to the public, there are two very good well priced restaurants, and the medieval monastery, an archeological museum and beautiful nature reserve are open to the public.

Urbisaglia(20mins)

Adjacent to Abbadia di Fiastra, the impressive Roman site of Urbisaglia provides free tours of its frescoes, theatre and amphitheatre, which was water filled and where slaves fought on boats (mmm shall I be cut to ribbons or drowned?)

Ascoli Piceno (45mins)

The city of Ascoli Piceno is dominated by numerous medieval towers and the Piazza del Popolo which is tiled with travertine and undoubtedly one of the most elegant squares of Italy. An amazing array of gothic architecture, great riverside walks, shopping and art galleries, plus some wonderful bars to sample the local Piceni wines. Oh, make sure you do some people watching in the Art Nouveaux Bar Meletti in the main Piazza.

Caldarola (15 mins)

Caldarola dominated by well preserved Pallotta castle, where building started in the 9th Century and which was transformed in the 16th by the Pallotta family, who still own the castle and now open it to the public, there are also 3 other castles in the surrounding Marche countryside.

Camerino (35mins)

The panoramic university hill town of Camerino has a history that goes back to Neolithic times. It has remained unchanged since its Renaissance heyday, when the local Da Varanno family governed much of surrounding Le Marche. Imposing churches, palaces and art plus lovely gardens, museums, outdoor cafes and some great shops.

Amandola (15 mins)

This touring centre for the Sibillini national park has a wonderful gothic piazza, sit in one of Amandola's bars there and watch the world go by, or try getting up and sampling the museum of rural history.

Macerata (40mins)

Macerata has a number of central piazzas with stunning architecture, a beautiful theatre, Duomo, art gallery and museum of carriages and the unification of Italy/ wartime resistance. There are also a variety of tempting shops and some lovely bars and ristorante.

Tolentino(25mins)

Tolentino is a vibrant medieval city home to the shrine of St Nicola, and some amazing architecture including an ancient roman bridge and a bizarre clock tower in the main square and the nearby 12^th century Castello della Rancia. Wander round the museum of caricature and humour in art, or simply enjoy the shopping, cafes and trattorie.

Montemonaco (35mins)

A pretty walled town with an information centre for the Sibillini National Park. From here you can walk in a couple of hours to the 'Cave of the Sibyl' (the lair of Tannhauser's Venus), or more striking, follow the River Tenna up the amazing limestone Gola dell'Infernaccio, 'Little Hell Gorge', a three-hour walk from the road.

Matellica & Frasassi (70mins)

Matellica is the centre for one of the Verdicchio wines from the Marche region and is a vibrant and interesting town that is also home to the Armani fashion outlet, where you can buy this famous style icons clothing direct. Matellica is half way to Frasassi ; which has an awesome network of underground limestone caves that is the largest in Europe and a must see for any visitor. Tours every hour in most languages

Central Le Marche Self guided Wine Tour

We have visited many cantinas ourselves and sampled some absolutely sumptuous wines, it's easy you just turn up and say "Potremmo assegiare i vini per favore?", if you want to taste the draft wines then ask "Potremmo assegiare gli sfusi". We have put together a trip, that takes in numerous local cantinas, some fantastic medfieval towns and the wonderful coastal region of the Conero National Park that is home to the wonderful robust Rosso Conero. Just click on this link to access the Marche wine tour google map.