Le Marche

Region of east central Italy, comprising the provinces of Ancona, Ascoli Piceno, Macerata, and Pesaro e Urbino; capital Ancona; area 9,694 sq km/3,743 sq mi; population (1997 est) 1,450,900. Agriculture produces wheat, maize, vines, potatoes, tomatoes, and root crops; and fishing is important.

The region was once a border district of the empire of the Carolingians, and later part of the Papal States. It occupies a strip between the watershed of the Apennines and the Adriatic Sea. The interior is hilly, reaching over 2,000 m/6,560 ft in the south, but generally much lower. The coastal plain is undulating because of the many short seasonal rivers draining southeast-northwest from the watershed to the coast.

Le Marche remains an essentially agricultural area, with fishing significant in all the coastal towns, especially in San Benedetto del Tronte. Factories are mostly small-scale, the main centres being Ancona, Pesaro, Ascoli Piceno, and Falconara (oil-refining).