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THE MARCHE - A HISTORICAL OUTLINE Thousands of years of continuous inhabitation have tamed and shaped the central Italian Apennines, and have helped to produce its characteristic landscape - a fascinating blend of rural cultivation and undisturbed nature. In the Marches, archeological evidence of human culture goes back to Paleolithic times, from necropolises as far apart as the coastal area of Ancona to the inner mountain border of the Macerata province. However, the first historical people of whom we find ample traces are the Picenes. This apparently indigenous race inhabited the Adriatic region of the Marches, while to the interior were found two other ancient races, the Etruscans and the Umbrians. The Dorian Greeks established an important colony around the port of Ancona at the beginning of the fourth century BC. Then, in turn, Roman dominance of the area followed more than two centuries of struggle against the invading Gauls, by 390 BC firmly established around Senigallia (colony of the Galli Senoni), and definitively defeated in 295 BC, at the battle of Sentinum along with numerous local allies, including Etruscans and Umbrians. The Picenes and certain Umbrian tribes such as those of Camerino who fought on the side of Rome were rewarded with Roman citizenship, a fact which involved them in the political strife which brought about the demise of the Republic in Rome. Two consequences of this provincial partisanship in the Roman civil wars are of particular note. One was the supplying of soldiers for Roman wars, a practice that evolved into the medieval condottieri tradition of central Italy. The other result was the partitioning of Picene territory for the resettlement of war veterans under Augustus and later emperors. These divisions formed the basis for the subsequent ecclesiastical organisation of the territory.
Roman colonisation of the Marches was greatly aided by the construction of the consular roads, particularly Via Flaminia, Via Salaria and their extensions. The pattern of inhabitation seconded the natural choices of river valleys, gentle slopes and coastal plains that had determined settlement since the dawn of history. But under the pressure of the barbarian invasions that were to destroy Roman rule, a new principle of settlement was adopted, namely the flight to the hills and the construction of defensible centres in the form of hilltop castles. The society that emerged from the so-called 'dark ages' was distributed into tiny, nearly autonomous units (castrum and villa), frequently under local leadership with only nominal allegiance to higher political authorities, such as feudal lords and invested bishops. Monasticism also played an important role in this re-ordering of the countryside. The preservation of agricultural arts throughout this period of political chaos was largely due to the work of small, isolated groups of monks living by the rule of Saint Benedict in fortified farms. Remainders of the thick stone walls of these monasteries and abbeys are much in evidence throughout the Marches, testifying the enormous impact of this movement, which had its origin in nearby Norcia.
The name of our region, the Marches, derives from the defensive organisation of medieval society. A marche or marca denotes a borderland governed by a margrave or marchese. A Carolingian invention to control the borders of the empire, these border states endured under the Hohenstaufens, who, by the tenth century, established ten such marches between the Baltic and the Adriatic Seas. The earliest reference to the Ancona march dates to the 6th century, while the marches of Fermo and Camerino appear in the 9th century. Together, these three cover the present territory of the Marches.
Naturally, these marches were hotly contested in the many centuries of struggle between the Holy Roman Empire and the Roman Catholic Church. Though the Guelfs and the Ghibellines were fairly evenly distributed in central Italy, on the average more was to be gained by loyalty to the papal cause. Family dynasties were established by intrepid captains of fortune who sold their services to Rome or to the Swabian emperors, while further military opportunities were offered by the French Angevin bid to control northern Italy and the Kingdom of Naples. Continuous warfare raged throughout the twelfth to fifteenth centuries. Through their military exploits much wealth was amassed to the benefit of the resident cities of these condottieri, many of whom were very able administrators of their territories.
Control of roads, waterways, grazing rights and flour mills were just some of the instruments by which they attained the economic power which they used not only for their own profit, but also to promote industry, commerce, agriculture and the arts. The supreme example of such local splendour in the Marches was the Montefeltro court in Urbino, often compared to that of the Medici in Florence. From Rimini the Malatesta family expanded into Pesaro, Fano and Senigallia leaving their mark of elegance, only to be surpassed by the Della Rovere dynasty, which succeeded them. Slightly more rustic the court of the Da Varano family of Camerino, which attracted major artists and humanists of the Renaissance period, but also accommodated the local citizenry every evening for card playing and conversation with the Duke! The wealth of the Marches, particularly the western interior, reached its peak in this period and thus attracted the cupidity of the Borgia family, whose plan was to create a vast seigniory grabbing up most of central Italy. In 1502 Cesare Borgia with the backing of his Father, Pope Alexander VI, swept down from Romagna conquering Urbino, Camerino and much of the extensive territory between them.
The Borgia invasion with its brief season of hegemony was a prelude to the dissolution of the seigniories, and by mid-sixteenth century most of the Marches had passed under direct pontifical rule.These 'papal states' experienced a certain degree of stagnation in the Baroque age by comparison to the preceding centuries, a fact perhaps best demonstrated by the lack of population growth and the near disappearance of important industries such as wool and silk manufacture. During the Napoleonic era Ancona received much attention as the nucleus of Adriatic trade, in relation to the French plan to make Milan the epicentre of the Kingdom of Italy; whereas the Restoration saw power shifted away from 'Jacobin' Ancona to Macerata. In 1860 the Marches joined united Italy after the Pope's army was routed at Castelfidardo and Ancona was overrun by the fleet of the Piedmont Savoy.
Perhaps the most important contribution of the Marches to Italy today is the relationship of the people to the land. It is the 'land of 100 cities', lacking any real metropolis, but full of towns which serve as centres of nearly self-sufficient communities of farmers and artisans, and where the local market consumes most of the local product. More than in any other region of Italy we see a rather decentralised model of economy, whose origins are easily traceable to the castle and villa economy of the middle ages. The imprint of this past age is immediately noticed by any visitor to the region, because so many of the medieval and Renaissance walls are still standing. Further contact reveals less tangible echoes of a world where human society was contained within local horizons. Small farms, small industry and small cities with life still centred around family and parish give a uniquely human dimension to the Marches.
Sara Tulczyjew
For more information about properties for sale in the region please contact Dannie Beattie posthouse@tiscalnet.it