| Ancona | Ascoli Piceno | Macerata | Pesaro e Urbino |

(The) Marche (plural, originally le marche de Ancona = the Marches of Ancona) are a region of Central Italy, bordering Emilia-Romagna north, Tuscany to the north-west, Umbria to west, Abruzzo and Latium to the south and the Adriatic Sea to the east. 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.
History
Marche was known in the ancient time as the Picenum territory. It was conquered by the Romans in 2nd century BC. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the region was invaded by the Goths. In Middle Ages the towns of Ancona, Fano, Pesaro, Rimini and Senigallia formed part of the Byzantine Empire in the Italian peninsula. This territory was called the Pentapolis. During the Renaissance the region was ruled by the rival aristocratic families, the houses of Malatesta and Montefeltro. From 1532 to 1860 the Marche became part of the Papal States.
Economy
The harbour of AnconaIn 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. In modern times the Marche developed the industrial sectors of shoes, paper, furniture, shipbuilding. 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.