"You see, our Le Marche is as beautiful as Tuscany, but it's not in fashion," says Giovanni Meschini, former manager of Poltrona Frau, now dedicated to the Fattoria Colmone della Marca, on the clayey hills of San Severino Marche. “Yet, whoever discovers us invariably falls in love. The reason is simple: you don't feel like a stranger here. Even if we don't have the Colosseum or other famous monuments, we share our normality, which is however of the highest quality. We remain artisans in producing wine as well as in welcoming guests. What we have done is to make ourselves feel good, from restaurants to wineries to small hotels. Therefore tourists feel at home.”
What then goes to luxury. For example, among vineyards that seem to grow on a golf course, the Meschini family has recently opened a tasting space. Among the wines is a limited edition of Terreni di Sanseverino, Italy's smallest DOC, It's always served alongside dishes in season. In May, you can order duck with sultanas, a local recipe that goes well with the red Ciacco. The view sweeps over the Tower of Pitino, a 13th-century structure, and the exquisite landscape.
Dante Duri, on the other hand, has the smallest cellar in the Serrapetrona DOC, in Colleluce, located a little over an hour southwest of Ancona, Le Marche's capital. He takes pride in the bunches that he picks by hand, removing the bad grapes one by one. A trying job for a little wine, but one he does with integrity to make his Durante, a passito made from Vernaccia Nera. With the same level of pride, he organizes aperitivo concerts in the summer on his terrace: jazz, genuine wine, Pecorino, Ciauscolo (a smoked dry-cured pork sausage typical of the region), and sunset over the mountain San Vicino.
In Venarotta, 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Ascoli, Olga Riccitelli began to take care of a family olive grove for fun, until she began to let her friends taste her extra-virgin olive oil: “Prova l’olio mio (Try my oil)," she would say. When her olive oil business moved forward, the name stuck – she called it Olio Mio.
"Le Marche's oil is a recent discovery, it needs ambassadors," says Olga, who has made it her mission. Therefore you participate in competitions: "The prizes are used to make the product and the land known." Land that she herself explores with curiosity to enhance other specialties, such as the green anise of Castignano, the pink apple of the Sibillini mountains, olive all'ascolana (fried meat-stuffed olives) - her favorites are those of the Vecchio Mulino di Roccafluvione - and the tagliatelle fritte (fried tagliatelle) of Monterubbiano, croquettes stuffed with tagliatelle, bechamel, meat sauce, and Parmigiano. "The only thing we lack is a welcome center. But I'm equipping two structures," concludes Olga, noting how it they'll be dedicated to oil and the precious black truffle, another gold of her land.