Summer holidays: the best tourist destinations in the Marche region

A region that offers travel lovers relaxation, adventure and culture

With the holidays approaching, the race to create the best itineraries for the holidays also starts. If you are looking for a place to relax, get excited by breathtaking landscapes, sit at the table for a genuine meal or experience a few days of adventure, stay in an accommodation in the Marche region could be for you. Between nature, art, spirituality and good food, there are a thousand scenarios for deciding where to go on holiday in the Marche region: here are the best destinations!

Gradara and Recanati, cities of poets and lovers

On one side the hills dotted with centuries-old olive trees, on the other a sea that looks like a sapphire. But also cities of art, small villages perched on the hills, farmhouses, cellars, monuments and historic buildings. The Marches always have something to tell to those who are willing to listen to its ancient stories. Like the legend of Gradara's lovers.

Historic village in the province of Pesaro and Urbino, Gradara is the backdrop to one of the most beautiful and tragic love stories in Italian literature. Before Shakespeare wrote about Romeo and Juliet, Dante narrated in his Divine Comedy of Paolo and Francesca, two young men bound by an impossible love, killed for adultery by her husband. According to legend, they lived at Castello di Gradara, an unmissable place of interest if you visit the village. Majestic and fortified by massive external walls, the Rocca Malatestiana was built in 1150 and today it presents itself to visitors with a suggestive external portico and with internal rooms full of antique furnishings and paintings. If you visit the castle you will also be able to admire the Camera di Francesca, which preserves a reproduction of the stage dress worn by the actress Eleonora Duse in the D'Annunzio tragedy Francesca da Rimini.

Once you have visited the Rocca, you can stroll through the streets of the centre, learning more about its history at the Historical Museum, under which there is a network of caves and ancient tunnels with a still mysterious purpose. Before leaving Gradara you can also spend a few moments of meditation inside the small churches scattered around the village.

If Dante was crucial in fueling the fame of Gradara and its Rocca, another famous poet contributed to the prestige of Recanati, in the province of Macerata: Giacomo Leopardi Your visit to the city. Still inhabited by his descendants, Casa Leopardi is not only the birthplace of the poet, but the scene of his inspiration, also nourished thanks to the small moments of city life. You can breathe this poetic tension in every room: in the Library, where thousands of volumes are conserved today and where Giacomo and his brothers devoted themselves to study, but also in the points overlooking Piazza Sabato del Villaggio (which took its name from the homonymous poem by Leopardi) and on the house of Teresa Fattorini, the famous “Silvia”. Not far away, also make sure you don't miss the Colle dell'Infinito**, which is said to have inspired Leopardi's best-known poem.

The relevance of Leopardi can be seen throughout the city, especially in the square dedicated to him, which preserves the statue of the poet. But Recanati is much more: you can learn more about the history and culture of the place by visiting the richly decorated rooms of the Palazzo Comunale, or the Recanati Museum, which preserves the historical memory of the city. Also not to be forgotten are the numerous places of worship: the Cathedral of Recanati, which contains works of art from different historical periods, and the small Church of Sant'Anna where you can admire the reproduction of the Holy House of Nazareth, originally built to allow sick faithful to see it without undertaking the pilgrimage to Loreto, where it is located.

Art and spirituality: Urbino and Loreto

In the province of Pesaro and Urbino there is a jewel nestled in the hills of Montefeltro: Urbino, the Renaissance city of Raphael.

If you stay in one of our villas near Urbino - such as Villa Piero della Francesca - you can easily reach the historic centre, to start your visit from the Palazzo Ducale, symbol of the city and once home to Federico da Montefeltro.

The building proudly preserves the works of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance: Raphael, Titian, Piero della Francesca, Paolo Uccello and many others.

A few steps from here you can also admire the majesty of the Cathedral of Urbino, dating back to the end of the 1400s. The paintings inside are an artistic heritage of enormous importance, such as for example the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian and the Last Supper, by Federico Barocci.

You can continue to enjoy the city's artistic heritage at the Oratorio di San Giovanni Battista - decorated with frescoes by Lorenzo and Jacopo Salimbeni - and the Oratorio di San Giuseppe, which preserves the sixteenth-century sculptural complex of the Nativity of Christ, by Federico Brandani.

Before leaving Urbino to stop elsewhere, don't forget to say hello to Raffaello by visiting his birthplace!

Spending your holidays in the Marche also means finding a moment to reconnect with your own spirituality. One of the best-known places where this is possible is Loreto, a popular destination for pilgrims from all over the world, attracted above all by the Sanctuary of the Holy House. If you wish to have the same experience as them, you can reach the building via the long Scala Santa, which - after 330 steps - will lead you to Piazza della Madonna. Dating back to the second half of the 1400s and built thanks to the contribution of artists of the caliber of Bramante and Vanvitelli, the Sanctuary conquers the eye from the outside. But it is inside that the work that most attracts the attention of the faithful is found: the House of Nazareth, Legend has it that it was the original home of Mary, transported by angels to Croatia and later moved here. Inside you can admire the statue of the Virgin of Loreto, the famous black Madonna of Loreto.

After a panoramic walk on the walkways of the Basilica and a visit to the Museo Antico Tesoro della Santa Casa, which houses some works of art by Lorenzo Lotto, one of the most fascinating activities that Loreto allows you to do is admire the splendid works dei Madonnari, who transform the center into a riot of color every year.

Regain contact with nature: the Conero Riviera and Lame Rosse

Are you a nature lover and embarking on a relaxing holiday in the Marche is not for you? Then don't miss a balloon ride over the Marche hills, or excursions along the Riviera del Conero, with its natural views a little wild, the beautiful beaches and the clear sea.

You can fully experience the Conero thanks to excursions on its most famous paths, such as that of Passo del Lupo, which winds along the Marche hills starting from the village of Sirolo, up to the highest panoramic point of the Riviera . From there you can admire another natural wonder of the area: the beautiful Spiaggia delle Due Sorelle, so called because of the two white stacks that emerge from the sea and which - according to legend - derive from a marine demon transformed in stone by the gods. This beach - reachable by sea from the port of Numana via boats - is one of the most sought-after destinations for those who want to visit the sea of the Marche region, although it is a bit crowded during the summer.

Finally, the adventurous and wild face of the Marche can also be observed in the Lame Rosse, the high pinnacles of gravel and clay near the Sibillini Mountains. Created over the centuries due to erosion by atmospheric agents and characterized from a yellow ocher tending to reddish, these indented formations are also called the Canyon of the Marche and represent an unmissable spectacle for visitors to the region, to be visited alone or in an organized itinerary with an expert guide. Especially on sunny days, the contrast between these gravel pyramids and the blue sky is breathtaking, as is the nearby Lake Fiastra.

Relaxation or adventure? Whatever the purpose of your holidays in the Marche is, choose the perfect accommodation for you on MarcheHoliday!