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Italy: Marche

Overview

The region of Marche contains the provinces of Ancona (also the name of the regional capital city), Ascoli Piceno, Macerata and Pesaro. The region’s population is around 1.46 million, mostly concentrated along the coast and in the main valleys, in an area of 9,693 sq km (3,743 sq mi). Situated between Umbria and the Adriatic coast, Marche is little known to foreigners and one of Italy’s best kept secrets. The landscape is reminiscent of Tuscany with lush vegetation, rolling hills and charming hill towns such as Urbino, home of the painter Raphael with its Ducal Palace of the Montefeltro dynasty. Other interesting towns include Ascoli Piceno (with a magnificent main square surrounded by porticos), Camerino (a tiny university town), Fano, Fabriano (famous for its paper and salami), Fermo, Jesi, Loreto (with its famous sanctuary), Macerata, Pesaro (with a fine historic centre), Recanati (home of the poet Leopardi), San Leo and Tolentino.

Marche has a long Adriatic coastline with high cliffs along the Conero Riviera, wide sandy beaches and many attractive resorts, which include Civitanova, Fano, Gabicce, Pesaro, Porto Recanati, San Benedetto del Tronto and Senigallia. The region is famous for its excellent coastal fish restaurants, white Verdicchio wine and, in Ascoli Piceno, stuffed olive all’ascolana. Marche is one of Italy’s most attractive regions, with friendly people, an unhurried pace of life and stunning landscapes (the national park of Monti Sibillini is a walker’s paradise). Once poor, it now enjoy a relatively high standard of living due to recent industrialisation, low unemployment and little crime.

Property: The local architecture includes gracious palazzi, white stone farms and cottages, and a wealth of attractive villages with interesting architecture. Relatively expensive apartments are common on the coast, whereas prices for property in the remote hinterland are quite reasonable. It’s possible to buy rural property in need of renovation, but access is often poor due to the dearth of sealed roads and other services. In the countryside of Camerino, Osimo or Urbino, a farmhouse requiring restoration costs from €750 per sq m (much less than in Tuscany or Umbria), while on the coast you can expect to pay between €1,300 and €2,900 per sq m for an apartment in a popular resort such as Senigallia or Sirolo. Bargains are, however, still available both on the coast and inland.

Communications: Communications are good along the coast, which is served by the A14 motorway, but poor inland due to the Apennine mountains and a series of parallel valleys that make it difficult to travel east-west. A railway line runs along the coast and there’s a regional airport at Ancona.

© Survival Books Limited 2003

“Buying a Home in Italy” 3rd Edition, David Hampshire.

Reproduced with the permission of Survival Books Limited.

Further information on this topic can be found in “Buying a Home in Italy” 3rd edition, by David Hampshire.

For extensive information about buying a property in Italy, you can purchase this book at www.survivalbooks.net

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