Le Marche is often overlooked as a prime destination by travelers, but every time I look at my pictures of it or review my stories, I yearn to go back. There are some medium sized towns in the region, like my favorites Urbino and Ascoli Piceno, but Le Marche is largely rural. That means there's always great food and interesting wine. In fact, there 12 DOC and 2 DOCG wines produced in the region. If you don't care for grapes, there's even a wild cherry wine famous in the region called Visciolata. If you like a good sparkler, the Marche likely invented sparkling wine a good 50 years before the Monks in France saw their stars, and it's being revived today at a very interesting winery called Sbaffi near the paper-making town of Fabriano.
If you've marveled at the wide variety of pasta shapes found in Italy, you'll want to add Le Pincinelle Marchigiane, a pasta made from leftover dough from breadmaking.
People in the Rural valleys of Le Marche know how to work with their hands. You'll find some surprising handicrafts here, from stamped cloth to pillow lace.
So have a look at our Introduction to Le Marche video to find out a bit of what you can see in this fascinating Italian region. Look to the left menu for the towns and villages we find interesting.