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Food and Wine

Food

Not surprisingly, the best food is still to be had in Marche homes rather than in restaurants. The arrival, however, of tourists in smaller towns and villages has often raised the standards in local restaurants and led to the "rediscovery" of long lost traditional dishes.

The old labels ristorante, trattoria and osteria have become somewhat interchangeable in recent years; many of the smarter, and most expensive places, call themselves osterie and take pride in reinterpreting strictly local dishes.

Many restaurants also double as a pizzeria, but note that pizzas are usually only available in the evening when the wood-fired oven is lit.

Generally a ristorante will at least have a written menu and a broader choice of wines. In trattorie, particularly in country areas, you will often have to cope with a menu rattled off at your table by the owner.

Avoid the temptation just to order dishes whose names are familiar to you from back home - you will frequently be missing the best the house has to offer.

If you are touring in summer or early autumn, look out for posters advertising the local sagra - a festival dedicated to a town's particular specialty where you can try the food in question in every guise imaginable.

Remember - Italian law requires that you always take your receipt, or ricevuta fiscale, with you from restaurants, bars and shops. The aim is to stop sales tax fraud and plain-clothed tax inspectors do stop people outside places and can fine them if they don't have a proper receipt.

The local cuisine of the Marche region reserves a place of honor for the Casciotta d’Urbino, a cheese that is eaten throughout the day. Made primarily from ewe’s and cow’s milk, Casciotta should be eaten after a maturation process that lasts from 20 to 30 days.

Mild and only slightly acidic, it is enjoyed simply with a slice of ciauscolo, grilled polenta, or with sweet accompaniments such as jams and pears.The Marchigiani cherish every inch of the pig.

Ciauscolo a type of spreadable pork, is traditional in this part of Italy . This specialty is made form the belly and shoulder of the pig and flavored with salt, pepper, fennel, garlic, and orange rind. Other pork specialties include Carpegna Prosciutto, Soppressata da Fabriano, and Fegatino, a liver sausage.

One of the region’s signature dishes, Vincisgrassi is a special recipe that reflects the Marchigiani attitude to life. Handmade with care, this festive dish is a type of lasagna layered with a ragu’ sauce, mushrooms, ham, béchamel, Parmigiano Reggiano.

The traditional foods are porchetta (a whole pig stuffed with flavoring and roasted on a spit), free-range chickens, vegetables, olives, salami, hams and sausages (prosciutto is typical, and becomes more and more rustic as you go inland).

The dressing used most is oil, but for some foods, also butter and, above all, lard are used, even though this has been all but abandoned in all the other areas of Italy; here it is often used, intelligently and sparingly, to be lighter on the stomach.

In addition, the province of Pesaro is the biggest truffle producer in Italy , particularly of the prized white truffle in direct competition with Alba: the capital in the Marches for truffles is Acqualagna, between Pesaro and Urbino where the famous market is held. The highly fragranced tubers (white, black, grey, purple, hazelnut- and earth-colored), therefore, enter into the local gastronomy with a certain frequency, giving strength and character to many dishes.

Urbino is also famous for passatelli, strands of pasta made from breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, and egg cooked in broth.

Apart from the ever-present meat grilled alle brace, on embers, delicious stuffed pigeons (piccione ripieno) and rabbit cooked with fennel (coniglio in porchetta) are a Marche speciality. In some areas, stewed snails (lumache) occasionally creep on to the menu.

In the northern Marche look out for piadina, a flat, unleavened bread often served with cold meats at roadside snack-bars. The sheep's' milk pecorino cheese is excellent here and is best eaten in the spring with young raw broad beans or fave.

Look out, too, for formaggio di fossa - (a strong-flavored cheese aged by being walled up in limestone holes in the ground).

By the coast, particularly around Ancona, try brodetto, fish stew which must be made with 13 species of fish, no more, no less. Thin spaghetti dressed with vongole or baby clams, is always good here as is spaghetti allo scoglio - "on the rocks" dressed with seafood.

Wine

Wine alone could provide an excellent motive for touring in the Marche and winemaking in the area has been having its own little renaissance over the last ten years or so, with a move away from quantity towards quality.

The region boast some outstanding vini da meditazione, wines so good they should be drunk with religious respect. These top class wines are not cheap and often cost much the same whether bought here or back home. But as well as the fashionable labels, you can drink excellent wines at excellently low prices.

Whites - The Marche's pride is Verdicchio made from the local grape with the same name. This green-tinged wine with a distinctive bitter finish foes well with the region's Adriatic fish. Like Soave, it is among Italy ’s best known dry whites, and it has come a long way since the commercially successful but mediocre Verdicchio of twenty odd years ago.

The two DOC (the official Italian equivalent of the French Appellation Contrôllée) versions are - Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi and Verdicchio di Matelica. The other Marche DOC whites are Bianchello del Metauro and Colli Pesaresi Bianco from the north, Esino Bianco and Colli Maceratesi Bianco from the central Marche, and Falerio from the south.

Reds - While the Marche is known world-wide for its white wine, the region also makes some outstanding reds.

Around the Conero peninsula, Rosso Conero , made from the Montepulciano grape, is a rich, perfumed wine that often reaches greatness - from 2006 it will be able to boast the coveted DOCG description on its label.

Rosso Piceno, and the even better Rosso Piceno Superiore from the south, blend Montepulciano and Sangiovese grapes.

A red sparkling oddity is Vernaccia di Serrapetrona, normally a sweet dessert wine but also available in a drier secco version; this is Le Marche's other DOCG wine.

Other Marche DOC reds are Sangiovese dei Colli Pesaresi around Pesaro, Esino Rosso and the delicious intensely-scented Lacrima di Morro d'Alba, both from the central Marche, and Colli Maceratesi Rosso from around Macerata.