Marche

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Coordinates: 43°22′32″N, 13°6′34″E

Marche
Image:Italy Regions Marche Map.png
Geography
Status Region
Capital Ancona
President Gian Mario Spacca
(DL-Union)
Provinces 5
Area 9,694 km²
 - Ranked 15th (3.2 %)
Population (2006 est.)
 - Total 1,542,106
 - Ranked 6th (2.6 %)
 - Density 159/km²

For the video game character, see Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

The Marche (plural, originally from le marche de Ancona, referring to the March of Ancona) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy.

It is located in the Central area of the country, bordering Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the north, Tuscany to the north-west, Umbria to the west, Abruzzo and Lazio to the south and the Adriatic Sea to the east. Except for river valleys and the often very narrow coastal strip, the land is hilly. In the nineteenth century, a railway from Bologna to Brindisi linked the Marche along the coastline of the entire territory. Inland, the mountainous nature of the region, even today, allows little communication north and south, except by rough roads over the passes.

Contents

[edit] History

The Marche were known in ancient times as the Picenum territory. The coastal area was occupied by the Senones, a tribe of Gauls. They were conquered by the Romans after the Battle of Sentinum in 295 BC. The Romans founded numerous colonies in the areas, connecting them to Rome by the Via Flaminia and the Via Salaria. Ascoli was a seat of Italic resistance during the Social War (91–88 BC).

Ancient map of the Marche by dutch cartographers, seventeenth century.
Ancient map of the Marche by dutch cartographers, seventeenth century.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the region was invaded by the Goths. After the Gothic War, it was part of the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna (Ancona, Fano, Pesaro, Rimini, and Senigallia forming the so-called Pentapolis). After the fall of the Exarchate it was briefly in the possession of the Lombards, but was conquered by Charlemagne in the late eighth century. In the ninth to eleventh centuries the marches of Camerino, Fermo and Ancona were created, whence the modern name.

The Marche were nominally part of the Papal States, but most of the territory was under local lords, while the major cities ruled themselves as free communes. In the twelfth century, the commune of Ancona resisted both the imperial authority of Frederick Barbarossa and the Republic of Venice, and was a maritime republic on its own. An attempt to restore Papal suzerainty by Gil de Albornoz in the fourteenth century was short-lived.

During the Renaissance, the region was fought over by rival aristocratic families, such as the Malatesta of Rimini, Pesaro, Fano and the house of Montefeltro of Urbino. The last independent entity, the Duchy of Urbino, was dissolved in 1631, and from then on, the Marche were firmly part of the Papal States except during the Napoleonic period, which saw the short lived Republic of Ancona created in 1797, the merging of the region with the Roman Republic and the Kingdom of Italy from 1808 to 1813, and then a short occupation by Joachim Murat. After Napoleon's defeat, the Marche returned to Papal rule until November 4, 1860, when it was annexed to the unified Kingdom of Italy by a plebiscite.

[edit] Geography

Panorama of Monte Vettore. Inner Marche is characterized by mountainous terrain.
Panorama of Monte Vettore. Inner Marche is characterized by mountainous terrain.
A sandy beach near San Benedetto del Tronto.
A sandy beach near San Benedetto del Tronto.
The medieval town of Urbino.
The medieval town of Urbino.
Well preserved medieval walls in Gradara.
Well preserved medieval walls in Gradara.

The region is predominantly mountainous, with few coastal plains in which are concentrated almost all major urban centres and economic activity.

The Marche are divided into five provinces:

[edit] Economy

Under the traditional mezzadria system, in which products are equally divided between owners and cultivators of the land, the rather unproductive soil and difficult terrain was highly cultivated. In modern times, the shoemaking, paper, furniture and shipbuilding industries were developed in the Marche. The port of Ancona is the only really good harbour, but other small harbours are used by fishing fleets: the Marche thus furnished a large number of sailors to the Italian navy.

[edit] Politics

The Marche form, along with Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany and Umbria, the Italian "Red Quadrilateral", a strongly left-wing area. In the April 2006 elections, the people of Marche gave 55% of their votes to Romano Prodi.

[edit] Demographics

In 2006, the Italian national institute of statistics (ISTAT) estimated that 81,890 foreign-born immigrants live in Marche, 5.3% of total regional population.

Towns of Marche with a population of 50,000 or more:

City Population (2006 est.)
Ancona 101,862
Pesaro 91,955
Fano 62,455
Ascoli Piceno 51,732

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Regions of Italy
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