Le Marche Region

Check out the Italy forum on the SlowTrav website; they have the best info I found on Le Marche. Some
great trip reports too.

A beautiful region, a little-known Tuscan

Marche, Abruzzo and Molise and relatively underrated regions compared to their west-of-Apennines counterparts. Some highlights specific to Marche - the medieval city of Camerino (today an university town) - the walled town of Urbino (which also hosts an university). Urbino is one of the best places in Italy to visit a hilly old town, full of restores buildings, that still doesn't feel like a theme park (since students and modern activities greatly outnumber souvenir shops and crowds) - hiking in on of the enclosed valleys, especially on late spring/summer - cave exploring (signaled paths) near Fabriano

Le Marche has a lot of beautiful, tempting places (Urbino, Ascoli Piceno) but we needed a beach break in the middle of a month in Italy, so we chose to spend 4 wonderful nights along the Adtriatic coast, in Senigallia. We love being near the water, being able to get up early in the morning and go for a long walk by the ocean. Then we would hop a bus or train for a little day trip, such as a visit to Corinaldo, a gorgeous 14th century hill town. Or we would explore Senigallia; once you're away from the beach, it looks like a typical picturesque Italian city, with a Renaissance fortress and palace, and daily fish and produce markets. Late in the afternoon, we would return to the hotel and walk down to a beach bar, sitting barefoot in the sand, enjoying a glass of wine with generous free snacks. The restaurants in Senigallia were amazing, including two Michelin 2-star restaurants. Lots of fresh seafood. And aside from the Michelin places, very reasonably priced. Our hotel, and most restaurants, had at least one person who spoke English, but we met no other Americans there. In fact, when we checked out of the hotel, they said we were the first Americans to ever stay there and presented us with a very beautiful, large (12" square), coffee table book about Le Marche, in English. It weighed at least five pounds, so was a lot to carry around for 2 more weeks, but is a lovely souvenir and reminder of the wonderful people we met. And by the way, it would be a perfect place for children ... since it's on the east coast of Italy, there are no big waves, and the water gets deep very gradually. You can walk a long ways into the sea, on soft sand, before the water goes above your knees.

Tom,
This may help http://www.le-marche.com/

I rented a large villa in Aliforni for a week for my family a few years ago. It was a wonderful low-key kind of vacation with several days on different beaches. I don't think we saw another American during the entire week! We found some great restaurants, both on the coast and farther inland, and were always welcomed warmly. I still treasure the hand-painted cream pitcher from Pippo's and Gabriella's that they gave each of us on our second visit. Le Marche's cultural sites have to be hunted down with some effort, and there was virtually no "tourist shopping," but it's a pretty part of Italy, the kind of area you go to for relaxing, although not somewhere you would choose for a first trip to Italy.

We spent two weeks in Urbino as our very first visit to Europe and it got us hooked forever! Wonderful place.

Thanks to everyone for your responses. We appreciate all the great advice!
Can't wait to get back to this beautiful country. Gracie a tutti!

We were lucky enough to have family just north of there in Riccione/Rimini and we attended two weddings. I can assure you the sand (of which they are very proud) is the nicest I've ever seen in all of Europe, very fine, light, and the walk into the water is pleasant and safe. The sea was very warm when we were there. Riccione and Rimini, although are just north of le Marche are very friendly to families with children. I can especially recommend Riccione as a place to go with little ones, the main street is blocked off during certain hours and a cute little kiddie train runs kids and parents down the street. It seems almost every alcove has little coin operated kid rides. The beaches have cordoned off area where an entertainer sings songs with the kids. RS panned this town as being too touristy, but sometimes that's just what's needed. NOT a lot of English spoken and few if any Americans there.

Just noticed that this is an old post from June! Don't know the dates of your trip, but the water temp of the Adriatic was warm for our trip, but we were there in August. If the trip has been taken, I hope it was wonderful.