Marche

This article refers to the Italian region. There are other regions called Marches.

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The Marche (plural, originally le marche di Ancona = the Marches of Ancona) are a region of central Italy, bordering Emilia-Romagna north and Tuscany and the republic of San Marino to the north-west, Umbria to the south-west, Abruzzo and Latium to the south-east and the Adriatic Sea to the east.

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The regional capital is Ancona. The region is divided into five provinces: Ancona, Ascoli Piceno, Fermo, Macerata all part of the ancient territory of Picenum, and Pesaro e Urbino which is composed of the traditionally separate provinces of Pesaro and Urbino, that were part of ancient Umbria. In 2004, a fifth province, the province of Fermo, was voted to come into being in 2009. The provinces of the Marche have distinct histories, largely owing to the geography of the region: except for the river valleys and the often very narrow coastal strip, the land is hilly. In the 19th century a railroad from Bologna to Brindisi linked the Marche along the coast-line of the entire territory: inland, the mountainous nature of the region even today allows little communication north and south, except by rough roads over the passes.

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In a traditional mezzadria system, under which products are equally divided between the owners and the cultivators of the land, the rather unproductive soil and difficult terrain was fairly highly cultivated. The port of Ancona was the only really good harbor, the other small harbors were used by fishing fleets: the Marche furnished a large contingent of sailors to the Italian navy.

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Marches: :For other uses, see March (disambiguation)....

Italy: Italy (Italian: Repubblica Italiana or Italia) is a country in southern Europe. It comprises a boot-shaped peninsula and two large islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia, and shares its northern alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The independent countries...

Emilia-Romagna: Emilia-Romagna is an administrative region of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. It forms a rough triangle, bounded on the East by the Adriatic Sea, on the North by the Po river and on the South by the Appennine range. With 4,030,000 inhabitants in 22,123 ...

Marche related Images and Photos (experimental)

Marche Parisien	Au marche	Le Marche	Marche aux Fleurs
Le Marche I	Le Marche II	Marche De L Empereur	Le Marche aux Fleurs
Le Marche aux Epices	Jour de Marche	Marche aux Fleurs a La Madeleine	Scene de Marche