Take a look at italy’s le marche

A top-10 worldwide tourist destination, writes Eric J Lyman Lijie

IT COULD be argued that the emergence of the Italian region of Le Marche as one of the world’s most underrated tourist destinations began at the onset of the 16th century.

That was when Le Marche’s most famous son, painter and architect Raphael, was at the height of a career that placed as a third of the trinity of High Renaissance maestros that include Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

Raphael was born in the medieval town of Urbino – now a World Heritage Site – in 1483, and celebrations there marking the 500th anniversary of his death 37 years later are one of the reasons the region appeared on the Lonely Planet list of the top-10 regions of the world to visit in 2020.

Lonely Planet, one of the world’s leading publishers of travel guides, said this month that the region that long stood in the shadow of neighbouring Tuscany in the eyes of tourists “is finally ready to take centre stage”.

“Le Marche,” the publisher said, “can do higgledy-piggledy hilltop towns, gloriously gluttonous food festivals, resplendent Renaissance palaces, winding countryside and inviting beaches with equal panache, but with the added bonus that its attractions are much less well known” than those in Tuscany.

Le Marche was second on the top10 list, just behind the Central Asian Silk Road. All told, the top-10 list includes three destinations each from Europe, Asia, and the Americas, along with one from Australia.

“We’re hoping this recognition will help cast light on Le Marche that the region has deserved for a long time,” said Sabrina Traini from My Marche Travel, a leading tour company serving the region.

Traini said that in addition to celebrating the 500th anniversary of Raphael’s death, Le Marche had plenty to offer visitors, from historic villages and top-level food and wine to outdoor activities in the mountains and at the seaside. “It only takes an hour to get from the mountains to the beaches,” Traini said.

“The scenery is as beautiful as anything anywhere in Italy and it’s all easy to get to, and because Le Marche is less well known than the big tourist centres like Tuscany or Rome or Venice, the crowds are small.”

Alessio Cavicchi, a professor specialising in the economics of food and economic resources in the Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism at Le Marche’s University of Macerata, agreed.

“This recognition from Lonely Planet is part of a trend recognising Le Marche as a cousin to Tuscany, just as beautiful, but with smaller crowds,” Cavicchi said in an interview.

He said he sometimes asked his students – who come from many countries beyond Italy – why they chose to study in Le Marche and not in a better known Italian region.

“They tell me they came specifically because it’s less known and there’s so much to discover,” the professor said. But Cavicchi said Le Marche needed to do some work before it could hope to take a seat beside Italy’s greatest tourist destinations.

“The region still needs more tourist infrastructure, and more people should learn to speak international languages, especially English,” Cavicchi said.

“But in terms of beauty, cuisine, and cultural offerings, I don’t think Le Marche should be ashamed to compare itself to any other region.”

| Xinhua