There is nothing quite like Italy in the summer. Regardless of the area you visit, you always seem to be greeted by sizzling heat, good food, and gorgeous scenery. This summer, my family and I decided to holiday in Le Marche, a rather unknown area which is sparsely populated and completely off the tourist track. Until recently, this region was only known for its booming shoe making industry and agriculture - specifically truffle hunting. However, the area has recently benefitted from a growth in the vineyard industry due to the richly fertile land and rainfall, which is significantly larger than it is in regions such as Tuscany on the other side of the Apennines.
Naturally, my family didn’t need to hear more. We rented a villa with a pool in the countryside, along with a car for ease of travel, and set off in search of wine and truffles, all at a remarkably low price! The experience was wonderful; when we weren’t lounging by the pool at our villa, surrounded by gorgeous rolling hills, and enjoying locally sourced foods, we were able to explore the hidden attractions Le Marche has to offer. From swimming in local lakes, to walking around hilltop villages with oversized coppetti di gelato, we were able to enjoy ourselves in a completely coronavirus safe way. More importantly, we were able to gain an understanding of these strangely quiet and isolated townships, which leads me to explain as best I can the peculiar nature of this place, and why I believe it so important more people come to understand its uniqueness.
(After a morning swim in the Lago di Fiastra)
(An evening walk through the city of San Severino)
When reading ‘The Tiger’s Bride’, a short story by Angela Carter, I couldn’t understand why she had chosen Italy as her gothic setting for the text. The country is famously sunny, and, historically speaking, a hub of culture and enlightenment. After visiting Le Marche, I could not be more certain of her vision. She writes “you think you’ve come to the blessed plot where the lion lies down with the lamb”, but the rural setting she depicts quickly shows the scene to be the opposite – a provincial landscape of little villages filled with people who keep to themselves dotted across a wilderness of countryside. The point she makes is that whilst we may think of Italy as “the blessed plot” of peace and prosperity, for those living there, away from the hubbub of tourism, it’s a different story.
I myself will admit this is an exaggeration; however, one cannot deny there is a strong disconnect between Italy and how it is perceived by the rest of the world. Beneath the veneer of a rich history of cultural innovation lies a society dangerously steadfast in their old-fashioned ways, in that seductively passionate Italian way. Indeed, like painted travel posters from the 1950s, the hilltop villages we visited were sun-drenched in colour, as if nothing had changed in the past seventy years, with gorgeous, uninterrupted mediaeval infrastructure, vespas scattered across the streets, and the occasional old man sat on a plastic chair outside his front door, sunbathing with a cigarette.
This devotion to the romantic, Italian image and lifestyle appears to be the region’s very downfall. Central Italy has been wracked with earthquakes over the past few years, and the ancient buildings making up the communes seemed to have suffered severely. Everywhere we went we saw strange metal pylons propped up against buildings, which seemed to sag around them, almost bulging out. Upon asking some locals why the structures were there, they simply replied that no-one had done anything about the damage, and nor did they intend to. The extreme devotion to history was made abundantly clear as we explored, with mediaeval family crests still in place above the doorways of houses in one village. In another, one could look through the open windows of houses to see sparsely furnished flats with faded and cracked baroque ornamentation splashed across the walls and ceilings in what seemed like a crazy juxtaposition of worlds.
(The castelli di Carpigniano)
( A street in Tolentino – from castle ruins in the countryside, to major towns and cities, the effects of the earthquakes are visible across Tolentino)
Whilst this part of Italy is beautiful and untouched by tourism, it is also slowly falling apart for that very same reason. If it only had the economy it deserved, perhaps it might be able to survive, and so I implore you to take your bubble to Le Marche, drink some wine, eat some truffles, and appreciate this beautiful, isolated part of the country whilst you still can.
Lottie Davies