The territory
The Marches Region is located in Central Italy, on the Adriatic Sea, with 170km of coastline. It is a small region with fewer than 1.5 million inhabitants and is divided into four Provinces. Ancona is the capital city, located right at the midway point along the coast, with about 100,000 inhabitants.
Geographically speaking, this region offers three main typologies: the coast with its share of the sea, the central hilly area, the mountainous area.
The area included in the Province of Ancona is traversed by two small rivers which carve out the valley and flow east from the mountains to the sea, parallel to each other.
The climate here is temperate, with Spring and Fall rains and fairly dry Summers.
The landscape of the Marches is harmonious, offering beautiful views overlooking wide expanses of neatly cultivated hills as far as the eye can see.
There are many protected areas, parks and natural reserves.
The population
Within this geographic framework Man has worked the land for millennia, moulding his surroundings (especially in the hilly areas) or adapting to existing conditions (along the Adriatic coast or in the mountains).
The inhabitants live in small towns or villages perched along the ridges of the many hills; many of these are fortified medieval towns and they all have a story to tell, where the narrow streets and small squares breathe ancient history often traced back to the ancient Greeks or Romans.
The people don’t care to talk about themselves much or show off. They have a close and direct connection to the land. The fact that life is calmer here, both on a social level as well as on a day-to-day level, that there is still a sense of pleasure in good food and good wine has made the Marches region a venue for a new kind of tourism which puts a high priority on the environment and good living in a tranquil setting.
Food and wine production
The Marches countryside is peppered with farmhouses because for centuries the farmer (almost always a crop-sharer) lived right on the land he farmed. In springtime or in summer the landscape is transformed into a painting resplendent with precise geometric shapes, well-defined borders and vivid colors. In fact, you won’t find a single corner of land that is not cultivated.
Hardworking and conscientious, the farmer knows that the products of the land are precious and that nothing can go to waste; his values come from a world gradually being lost as industrial processes take over but which the modern world is trying to regain.
Raise sheep to have milk and cheese, cultivate a vineyard to have good wine, farm a piece of land to have legumes during the winter, raise a pig and feed it natural feed to make a good prosciutto, obtain a good supply of olive oil, not from the supermarket but directly from the oil mill: this is how the old-style “Marchigiano” thinks and lives his life. He descends from an ancient farm culture thanks to which we can still have products that are simple, natural and good - artisanal products of quality rather than anonymous products of the food industry.
Pasta and oil, prosciutto and cheese, grains and legumes.
Grain, and in particular wheat, has been grown in the Marches for ages. In modern times, the fact that both durum wheat as well tender wheat grow well here has allowed pasta production to flourish in artisan laboratories where both dry semolina pasta and fresh egg dough pasta is made.
Here one finds the finest maccheroncini which cook in just one minute as well as durum wheat pasta made using traditional methods, from grinding the flour to drying the pasta.
The Marches produce a only a modest amount of oil because the cold winter winds sometimes prove too severe a test for the olive groves; nevertheless the oil that is produced is of excellent quality. In fact, regional extra-virgin olive oils often do very well in terms of market price because they reach exceptional levels of quality.
In the past, it was a necessity for every family to raise their own pig. Nowadays, in spite of growing industrialization, there is still a high degree of respect and appreciation for natural livestock raising practices in the Marches Region. The final product will only be good in fact, if the animal is fed natural feeds and if it us allowed to follow its natural growth cycles. The quality of the life cycle of an animal has a direct impact on the quality of its meat!
The same is true for cheese production, in general pecorino or sheep’s milk cheese. The methods used today are again going back to the manual, rather than industrial processing.
Among the several grains grown in the region, we mention farro, or spelt wheat, used in Antiquity by the Etruscans and then by the Romans, which has gained a new popularity. It has been rediscovered and re-proposed for its undeniable health benefits. A similar comeback has been seen for dried legumes which had been cast aside for a period of time but now reappearing on modern tables as people look for more natural and healthier nutrition.
Seafood
The Marches’ eastern shore faces the central part of the Adriatic Sea and thus has ample and immediate access to the rich bounty of seafood available in these waters.
Over the course of centuries, different customs became traditions imbedded in the culture of the people living all along the coast. Here, tables are often graced with fresh-caught sea bass, dentex (gilt-head, sea bream,etc.), John Dory, cod, anchovies, sardines, crustaceans, and molluscs, to name just a few.
The most memorable dishes include the brodetto, or fish soup, a sumptuous dish with many local variations which at one time was prepared by the fishermen themselves, using the smaller and less prized catch of the day.
We must also mention the stoccafisso all’anconetana (baked cod and potatoes Ancona-style), a traditional preparation with a great history dating back to the 1500’s and the period of trade with the Republic of Venice.
Vines and Wines
Two principal wines characterize the central Marches area: the Rosso Conero and the Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi.
The Rosso Conero is obtained from Montepulciano grapes and the vineyards grace the land just south of Ancona, right in the lee of the Conero promontory. It is a spectacular landscape, perhaps one of the most beautiful spots on the Adriatic, where the grapes grow just a few kilometers from the sea, to produce an excellent wine.
Strict regulations govern every aspect of production, from the maximum allowable yield per acre to the wine-making practices in the wineries, to the final characteristics of the product.
The Verdicchio wines are produced in the small towns dotting the hills surrounding the town of Jesi. This well-structured white wine is produced from the vine by the same name.
Several different wines are made from Verdicchio grapes, from sparkling to dry and even, a sweet passito. Of the various vines native to Italy, this is certainly one of the most important.
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