The history of our region

The history of our region

In the tenth century BC the region was inhabited by various people: the Gauls in the north, the Umbrians in the south-west, the Greeks in the area of Ancona and the Piceni in the south. The Romans then concluded a strategic alliance with the Piceni to defeat the Gallic invasion, but they ended up being invaded by the Romans and, in the end, they declared war on Rome. During the many battles, were built many defensive works (the walls of Osimo), infrastructure (Via Flaminia and Via Salaria that link the region to Rome, the Furlo tunnel) and structures such as the gate of Fano (Arch of Augustus) and the Arch of Trajan.

It was during the Renaissance that the Marche region reached their peak, through the establishment of noble families such as Malatesta (Fano), Montefeltro and Della Rovere in Urbino. After the extinction of the Della Rovere family, the region came under the control of the Church, representing, together with the Lazio region, the heart of the Papal States. The Papal power lasted until the unification of the Kingdom of Italy, except for a brief period when it was occupied by the French during the Napoleonic Wars. In this period the region, once called “Marca” (meaning "land board"), was for the first time officially called "Marche" and was divided into three departments: “Metauro” with capital Ancona, “Musone” with capital Macerata and “Tronto” with capital Fermo.

During the Second World War, the Marche were subjected to numerous bombings and the German occupation, but many partisans played many maneuvers of sabotage against the German invaders. In correspondence to the Foglia river (in the city of Pesaro) was established the Gothic Line, where in August 25^th of 1944, the allies arriving from the south, after a tough battle managed to oust the Germans and liberate the region.

Widespread throughout the XX° century, in our region and in other areas of central Italy was the Sharecropping. This term ("the one who divides") means a farming contract under which the owner of a land and a farmhouse (grantor) and the farmer (called "sharecropper") divided in half all the products and the profits obtained from the ground. The sharecropper worked the land and lived in the farmhouse and it is just for this reason that you can find Marche country house, Marche villas or Farmhouse Marche near the city.

Regarding the most recent period, the region was hit by an earthquake (1997), which caused a lot of damage to inland areas. Since 2009, the territory of the upper valley of the river Marecchia is no longer of Marche property, but it was annexed to the Emilia Romagna region.