Le Marche means "border area" - during the early Middle Ages, the area represented the edge of the Holy Roman Empire. Today, Le Marche is an unusual blend of unspoiled scenery: patches of medieval hill towns, long, sandy beaches, and stunning snow-capped peaks of the Monti Sibillini. The terrain and feel is reminiscent of its western neighbour Tuscany, but its tourist influx is surprisingly less, making it genuinely Italian and unspoilt.

Between the Apennine mountains and the Adriatic sea, the landscape of the Marche region is dominated by the towers of several hundred fortified towns and villages, sitting proudly on crests which punctuate the horizon in every direction. Most were built as feudal strongholds, each with its own particular history to tell. Many also remain remarkably unaltered by time.

Many of these southern Marche towns also conceal some remarkable works of art which can still be seen inside the buildings for which they were commissioned.

Servigliano is a perfectly square-planned village, as a text book example of 18th century urban planning, feels like a little corner of someone's private vision of Utopia, with every building laid out in perfect symmetry.

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