The culinary delights:

From the delicious fish of the Adriatic to the tasty dishes of the hills and mountains, the Marches offers an incredible and cheap variety of food cooked in the traditional manner using only seasonal ingredients.  We name but a few to get your taste buds salivating.

There are a vast number of recipes for fish and seafood and various versions of brodetto, a smooth, velvet-textured fish stew containing some thirteen different types of fish,  in San Benedetto del Tronto it is made with green peppers and in Porto Recanati flavoured with saffron.   This dish is traditionally prepared by the local fishermen, served in many restaurants each competing for the place of honour as far as their recipe is concerned.   Zuppa di balleri which uses date mussels, removed with difficulty from the rocks in deep water areas is a delicacy and typically a summer dish is reputed to have aphrodisiac properties.  A custom which goes back to the times when the way of life was more modest is that of stuffing various vegetables and serving them as the main course, one of these recipes which has conquered the home market and are even deep frozen for export is olive ascolane, which is an exceptionally large, fleshy olive, stuffed with meat and herbs, coated with breadcrumbs and then fried.  Vincisgrassi made to a traditional recipe of the Macerata area is a pastry consisting of boiled egg pasta layers alternated with a thick sauce of minced chicken giblets, fresh tomatoes, butter, parmesan and mozzarella.  . 

Pork is the staple meat item of the inland area and the porchetta (roast suckling pig), a national favourite, originated from this region.  The famous porchetta, roast pork with a herb, garlic and stuffing all of which is seasoned and roasted on a spit in a wood oven until crackling and golden Lonza, proscuitto and ciavuscoli are just a few of the many pork products made in the area.  You could try this method of cooking for yourself using the wood oven at the house.  There are also the renowned Carpegna hams, the salami of Fabriano and the Marches is well known for the cultivation of truffles, both the black and the white variety and there is a truffle fair in Amandola each autumn.  The best known pasta dish of the Marches is maccheroncini di Campofilone, a very thin tagliarini served with ragout.  Near the Monti Sibillini, lentils are widely grown, these are eaten with cotchino, a pork sausage, it has a good wholesome flavour.

Cakes deserve a special mention: the local recipes are still prepared, especially in the country, celebrating every part of farming life, reaping, threshing, the grape harvest.  Cakes associated with the traditional festivals are still prepared, for Christmas we enjoyed a bread full of nuts, dates and honey made by our local farmer/neighbour, all the family enjoyed this one!   The fragrant food, cakes and sweets of the Marches are best accompanied by the fine wines from the hills.

Wines from the region are well known, excellent, inexpensive and are celebrated in many festivals -

Whites include the:
    Blonde Verdicchio from Castelli di Jesi
    Bianchello from Metauro
    Falerio from the Ascoli hills
    Verdicchio dei Castelli
Among the reds are:
    Rosso Conero
    Sangiovese dei Colli Pesarest
    Venaccia di Serrapetrona
    Lacrima di Morro d'Alba
........................................ to name but a few.