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The Marches,
the birthplace of central Italy's richest flavors
Italy’s east coast
region of
the Marches serves a
different role for each
visitor. For beach fans, it’s a
magnetic summer destination, where popular resorts alternate
with quiet, sandy coves along the
Adriatic. For art aficionados, the
walled city of Urbino is a rich location
for revisiting the aesthetic grace and
rich intellectual life of a Renaissance
court. Many Italians have been to its
capital, Ancona, to board long-distance
ferries to the Greek islands. |
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And anybody who has eaten porchetta, a garlic-and-herb-stuffed, spit-roasted pork, has
unknowingly paid homage to
Marchesan cuisine, which claims the
dish as its own.
The region’s strange name comes
from the Germanic word marka, which
in medieval times meant a region bordering
on the Holy Roman Empire. For
much of the Middle Ages, the Holy
Roman Empire and the Church fought
over the region. The Italians took marka
and called the region Le Marche, which was converted into the similar-sounding
English name, the Marches.
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For an under-visited part of Italy, the
Marches has given support and inspiration
to a surprising number of master
artists, musicians and writers.
Renaissance painter Raffaele Sanzio
(Raphael) was born in the northern city
of Urbino.
Some of his earliest
frescoes are on display at
the house where he was born, which is
now a museum. Urbino was also the
bir thplace of the prolific architect
Donato Bramante, who designed
dozens, if not hundreds, of churches and
other buildings across Italy during the Renaissance. The Marches’ rich patrons
and high-budget churches also attracted outside artists such as Piero della
Francesca, who developed his mathematical approach to perspective while
working in Urbino. The region’s status as a center for art and culture was
due to the rise of independent power-holding families in the Middle Ages.
Starting in the 12th century, the Marches’ remote, rippling terrain was
cordoned off into sprawling feudal lands, and was developed and primped by
patrons who poured their family resources into building and art projects.
The names of the aristocratic families who developed the region still ring
in Italy’s ears like the names of long-lost royalty. Duke Federico of
Montefeltro established a thriving court in Urbino. One of his courtiers,
Baldassare Castiglione, documented its social life in his 1528 work, The
Book of the Courtier, which became an instant best-seller—a “Miss Manners”
for the aspiring Renaissance hot-shot. The Montefeltro’s ducal palace in
Urbino is now home to the National Gallery of The Marches, with masterpiece
paintings by Raphael, Piero della Francesca, Titian and others.
In 1613, the Marches came under the control of the Papal States, ending the
spread of independent dukedoms and drawing the region more tightly into the
Church’s sphere of influence. By this time, many cities had already
established great churches. The most famous of the Marches’ numerous holy
sites is the Santuario della Santa Casa, or the Sanctuary of the Holy House,
in the town of Loreto. The holy house is said to have belonged to the Virgin
Mary. Her dwelling in Palestine was reportedly uprooted by angels at the end
of the 13th century to save it from heathen pillagers, and plunked down in
the middle of the Marchesan wasteland. Many top artists of the 14th and 15th
centuries worked in the sanctuary, including Bramante and painters Melozzo
da Forlì and Luca Signorelli. The miraculous transfer of the house has made
Loreto’s church an important pilgrimage site for centuries.
” Over 100 miles of coastline stretch down the
eastern shore, from white sand beaches like the “velvet beach” in Senigallia
to towering black cliffs that curve around blue coves. Beyond the occasional
inland city, the interior is largely uninhabited. Countless acres of virgin
woods, especially oak forests, reflect the relative lack of development in
the region. Famously thick woods used to cover the region. Now they occupy
16 percent, which still makes for larger tracts of unexplored land than in
neighboring Tuscany and Umbria. Protected indigenous animals such as
Apennine wolves, foxes, Orsini vipers (which share a name with an equally
infamous medieval family) and golden eagles have diminished in recent years
as forests are cleared, but can still be seen on hikes in the Apennines and
in the rougher Sibylline mountains. Carved out underneath the Marches’
extensive forests is a breathtaking series of caves littered with shiny,
enamel-like stalagmites and stalactites thought to be 1.4 million years old.
The Frasassi Caves were fully explored in 1971 and were immediately judged
to be the largest in Europe. The first chamber, called the Ancona Abyss, is
approximately 600 feet high, 500 feet wide and 400 feet long—large enough to
fit your average medieval cathedral comfortably inside. Serious spelunkers
can join guides for in-depth excursions of the caves; there are also
frequent walking tours for those who prefer not to crawl through the caves’
tight spaces.
He claimed that his passion
for la buona tavola (a lavish table) was second only to his love for music.
Although Rossini devoted his professional life to composing operas such as
The Barber of Seville, he is credited with creating and promoting many of
the region’s richest, most extravagant dishes. His favorite foods included
mushrooms, goose liver, game, beef, oysters, truffles, egg, mayonnaise...and
the list goes on. Hundreds of dishes in Marchesan restaurants are tagged
alla rossini. Rossini wrote that he only cried three times in his life: when
people booed at his first opera; when he heard the music of Paganini; and
when he accidentally ruined a truffle-stuffed turkey by dropping it in
water. One of his numerous food mottoes captures his irresistible attitude
towards la dolce vita, Marches style. He wrote, “to eat and love, to sing
and digest: these are truly the four acts of this comic opera we call life,
which vanishes like the foam from a bottle of Champagne. Whoever lets it
slide by without enjoying it is crazy.”