Have you ever been to the Marche? Those who live there often say, with a gesture of pride, that this is it a special region: you will find the plains, the hills, the sea and the mountains just a few steps away from each other. The particularity of this region is not limited only to the landscape, it is a treasure chest that contains naturalistic, artistic and historical wonders.
So I decided to tell them, to accompany you this summer in the alleys of the villages that I love most, in the small or large museums that tell the history of the territory, in the paths that cross the Sibillini Mountains. I will get help from those who, this Region, have always told about it and do it as a profession every day. Enjoy the reading!
Tales of Marche
The first guide we encounter is Nadia Stacchiotti, tireless social disseminator of the beauties of the Marche and beyond. Nadia created the blog back in 2008 Tales of Marche, with the initial intention of telling his region to anyone who wanted to discover its beauties. His portal then became a real one travel blog, where you can find a sincere, passionate and often ironic story of his travels.
Among his passions, art, museums and good food, but there is no lack of naturalistic itineraries, like this article in which he talks about 10 itineraries to get around the Marche if you only have a weekend to enjoy them! Recently Nadia has created another project: the travel podcast. Written words were no longer enough, which is why he decided to give voice (seriously!) To the desire to travel, to countries, to cities. Travel Stories is his podcast entirely dedicated to travel, born from his intuition. Often to tell the travels in existing podcasts is someone who has decided to give up everything and devote himself completely to the discovery of new lands. Gorgeous, but hardly achievable for most of us. In his podcast, however, Nadia gives a voice to great travelers, to those who also have a normal office job and plan holidays and long weekends to satisfy their desire for discovery, traveling and sharing their experience.
You can listen to the latest episodes here.
Nadia loves the rankings: she has collected the most beautiful in the book Racconti di Marche, 10 rankings, 100 ideas to discover the region in an unusual way. Here's where to find it.
With a little sun on your face
We took a stroll in the Marche also with Luca, of the blog With a little sun on your face. It is a group of culture and tourism professionals composed of Luca Marcantonelli, environmental hiking guide, photographer, graduate in food science and technology, Nicola Pezzotta, environmental hiking guide and engineer specialized in cartography and geomatics, Simona Pezzotta, hotel technician specialized in the enhancement of local products and typical products; Lucia Paciaroni, journalist, photographer and PhD student e Fabiola Cogliando, art historian and museum worker.
The aim of the project, born in 2009, is only one: to make known the Marche and Italian territory, in all its nuances. Their strong point is the contamination of different disciplines, which enrich those who choose to follow these passionate professionals, during the scheduled outings (find their calendar updated on social channels or on the website). I was very impressed with their latest effort: the Alta via delle Marche. It is a path that runs through the entire Marche region, and branches off along the Umbrian Marche Apennines, up to the border with the Abruzzo region.
The path it is the "oldest way" used by man to move but also to know, love and appreciate the territory. Walking means travel without haste to discover simple things and "savor" the essence of a place, its history and its identity.
What better way to get to know the Marche hinterland and appreciate its environmental, artistic and cultural wealth? The Alta Via delle Marche describes an itinerary of 416 km, a journey divided into 27 stages to be traveled on mountain paths and climbing some of the most significant peaks of the Umbrian-Marche Apennines.
If you are not an experienced hiker, you will find many other easy-to-do hiking tips on their blog even with children.
To find out more about the Alta Via delle Marche path, you can read here.
Cinema Italy - Francesca Bianchelli
She is not a guide in the classic sense of the word. Francesca Bianchelli is aartist and photographer which I very much appreciate, author of photographs from the Radici collection. On that occasion, during the shooting, Francesca told me about her project dedicated to our territory, with a section dedicated to the Marche.
These images are fragments of everyday life, of hidden and revealed stories: the whole project is nothing more than a sound and harmonious hymn to life, which invites the viewer to look for those little ones fragments of eternity in everyday life, that timeless beauty that can hide behind the sign of an abandoned cinema.
One evening, drinking a beer in a small place on the road in Itacaré, looking for the bathroom, behind a curtain, I discover a cinema.I take a seat on the wooden benches under a sky that seems to crush me and, without understanding a word, I watch the whole film .
Images that flow and tell a story.
So many stories.
When I went to live in my grandparents' old house, I had a cinema right in front of the house.
In reality the cinema was now closed, but its CINEMA ITALIA sign dominated proudly with its red characters and kept me company from the window.
With photography I have always wanted to make everyday life unique and, by fixing it in the shot, to give it new life in the eyes of those who look at it, inviting them to a personal and intimate journey.
CINEMA ITALIA was born from the desire to tell about places, about my everyday life, about my trips to Italy, about my wandering and changing.
A collection of shots that revolves around the idea of travel in Italy.
Images that flow and tell a story.
So many stories.
So, among his photos, I find the Slowcanda, a precious and authentic inn, where the food is all hand made and the wine comes from local wineries. Or the pit cheese, the legendary pecorino typical of the Marche, aged for three months in real pits dug into the rock. I find again the smiles of a wedding in Sirolo, celebrated in the alleys I know well, the Marche countryside, wheat fields and sunflowers that take my breath away. I get excited in front of an old photo, faded but powerful, in which thanks to Francesca's great-grandfather, the village shoemaker, who worked right in front of her house, is portrayed.
I recommend that you take this journey through his images. It costs nothing, but it will give you a lot!
Find all the images on his website: www.francescabianchelli.it
Move to Italy - Alessandra Maggi
Then there is her, a nice discovery, a surprise that was hiding among my customers! Often after the purchase of a shoe I come to know of projects that I am passionate about, and Move to Italy is one of them. Alessandra Maggi is a construction engineer; after a work experience in London he chose to return home, to his Jesi, and take care of helping foreigners to buy and renovate a house in the Marche region. He doesn't just want to sell a building or a charming farmhouse. He wants to make people fall in love with our land.
To do this he created a podcast, “La Marchigiana”, in which he interviews people from the Marche by birth and adoption, talking about their history and the beauties of this region. I reveal to you that he also interviewed me and I am truly honored.
Soon you will hear some good ones!
To listen to the available episodes of the podcast you just need click here, or peek between the articles of his blog.
Marche travel
And finally, I present to you another reference blog if you want to discover the Marche. She is Clarity Gentili Mattioli, from Marche Travel, who in our stories told us about Giacomo Leopardi and his Recanati, a Marche jewel to visit far and wide.
Chiarenza is a tour guide, graduated in Conservation of Cultural Heritage, who together with Silvia Montironi, graduated in Cultural Heritage and also a tour guide, will make you discover the Marche Region in all its aspects, from cities of art, to small villages, from food and wine to crafts.
They share travel tips and beauty pills on their blog and on their social channels. Take a peek on their site to discover all their activities or to contact them.
Did you like the tour?
If you have advice or want to report a reality that deals with spreading beauty or a new way of doing tourism, write to me at info@scarpettadivenere.it. We will include it in the next episode of Four Steps in the Marche.
