So Many Marches

An Italian province that contains multitudes

Braceria Plinc, a braceria that’s all about truffles in Acqualagna, Le Marche as rendered by John Donohue

Ok, so let’s say you decide you want to give the Italian region of Le Marche a go? Sounds straightforward, except, which Le Marche will you try? Here it’s important to make a necessary grammatical intervention. Le Marche is actually “The Marches,” the only region of Italy’s twenty official regions that’s presented in plural form. Why? Like so much in Italy it comes down to deep history. Le Marche literally means “the borders” but I think a better, slightly less-literal translation might be “The Borderlands.” To some degree the Borderlands are a product of the Papal States, which saw Le Marche as a collection of protective buffer zones defending the Pope from hostile peoples who might invade either from the Adriatic to the east or the barbarian lands to the north.

But today the plurality of Le Marche is expressed in a broad diversity of landscapes, foods, wines and terroirs. One can (as the illustrator John Donohue, the food and wine journalist Betsy Andrews, and I did yesterday) work one’s way into the valley nooks of Acqualagna and have a truffle experience every bit as earthy and umami-soaking as one might have in Piemonte: