We have visited Italy twice and loved Capri, Sorento, Positano, Venice, Verona, Trentino-Alto Adige.
We are planning to visit Tuscany this year.
We are considering a visit to Marche. Are there specific areas to visit in Marche? I understand the coast is beautiful in this area of Italy?
I've only visited Urbino, which is well worth a day trip or a short stay. I had a car the time I visited Urbino on my own (also visited on a tour).
I think the official website linked below from the Regional Government of the Marche region will do a better job than anyone in describing the top sights.
The most beautiful coast is probably near the Mt. Conero park (between Portonovo and Numana, passing for Sirolo)
I served in Ancona for a couple of months and once our entire battalion had to search night and day the entire mountain for a missing little girl. Beautiful place (albeit the most exhausting 24 hours of my service).
Marche boasts also the highest number of the “most beautiful villages of Italy”, so you won’t run out of things to do.
Urbino, Ascoli, and Macerata are the top historical cities to visit, IMO. Ancona is nice too.
We visited Le Marche twice and love it. We’ve used the ebook Lonely Planet Umbria and Le Marche chapter. Have you serched Marche in the line above? Many people have posted good ideas on this forum.
The Frasassi Caves are also well worth visiting. You have to enter on a guided tour, so it’s best to find out the schedule for those in English.
We loved Ascoli Piceno. It has a beautiful Piazza del Popolo that is perfect for people watching and the town is a nice place to relax and just walk around. And the local specialty, "olive ascolane" (stuffed olives), are delicious! We also visited Urbino to see the Ducal Palace among other places. Urbino is a college town and it was quite noisy there (for my taste anyway), nevertheless it is well worth a visit.
There are two coastal highlights, Monte Conero as mentioned above, and also the San Bartolo area north of Pesaro. The rest of the coast is fairly flat. I am a sea lover so I visited both, but the hill towns are the true treasure of Marche. What season would affect where to go as well. Share a little bit about where you are coming from in Tuscany, your interests, and how many days you will have for targeted suggestions.
Thank you so much for your helpful tips. It might be too ambitious for us to visit this area while we stay in Florence. I think we will need to plan an additional trip to Italy. Again - thanks
