Le Marche Restaurants and Regional Food

What to eat in Le Marche restaurants

Three dishes appear across the region. Vincisgrassi is the best-known first course, a baked pasta layered with meat sauce and béchamel; legend links it to the Austrian general Windisch-Graetz, who defended Ancona against Napoleon's troops in 1799. Olive all'ascolana, from Ascoli Piceno, are large green olives stuffed with meat, breaded and fried; the recipe dates from the 19th century and the olive has been a DOP (Protected Designation of Origin) since 2005. Porchetta, roast pork seasoned with fennel, garlic and rosemary, comes from the inland farming tradition.

Among the cured meats are ciauscolo, a soft spreadable salami from Visso and the province of Macerata, the hams of Carpegna and the salame of Fabriano. Cheeses include the Casciotta d'Urbino, and among the pastas the Maccheroncini di Campofilone, a PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) egg pasta. The page on Le Marche food goes through the specialties one by one.

Seafood restaurants on the coast

On the coast, Marche Italy restaurants are built around fish. Brodetto, the fish stew of the Adriatic, changes from port to port: in San Benedetto del Tronto it is made with green peppers, in Porto Recanati with saffron, and Fano has its own version. Ancona's signature dish is stoccafisso all'anconetana, dried cod cooked slowly with potatoes, tomatoes and Verdicchio wine. Around Monte Conero, the wild mussels of Portonovo, called moscioli, grow on the rocks of the seabed.

Inland and mountain cooking

Inland, pork is the staple and the dishes are heartier: rabbit in potacchio (with onion, tomato, white wine and rosemary), tripe, chicken with peppers and soups such as frascarelli and passatelli. Freshwater trout is cooked in the upper Potenza valley at Sefro and in Ussita, at the foot of the Sibillini. Autumn is truffle season, with fairs in Acqualagna, Sant'Angelo in Vado, Pergola and Amandola.

In the Sibillini the table adds pecorino, legumes, mushrooms and lamb sauces. Many farms serve meals made with their own produce, as described in agriturismo restaurants in the Sibillini. The broader guide to Sibillini Mountains food covers the local products.

Marche Italy restaurants and wine

The region has 15 DOC wines. The best known is Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, celebrated in October with a grape harvest festival in Cupramontana; Verdicchio di Matelica is the other famous white. The leading red is Rosso Conero, with Rosso Piceno Superiore, Lacrima di Morro d'Alba and Vernaccia di Serrapetrona.

Sweet and strong drinks close the meal. Vino cotto in the Marche, grape must boiled in copper cauldrons and aged in wood, is linked to Loro Piceno. In Ascoli Piceno the custom is anisetta, an anise liqueur, served with a coffee bean in the glass, called the "mosca".

Restaurants near the Sibillini Mountains

For a meal in the mountains, the town pages list the places one by one. Sarnano restaurants range from osterie in historic buildings to huts on the slopes of Sassotetto. In Visso, where ciauscolo, pecorino and Nera trout are the local foods, the choice of Visso restaurant is described with the closures caused by the earthquake. For fried olives and the fritto misto, see the page on Ascoli Piceno restaurants. The ciauscolo salami page explains the PGI rules, and Sibillini Mountains restaurants gathers the whole area. Background on regional food is in the regional guide to Marche cuisine.