Everything about The Marches totally explained
For the video game character, see Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
The
Marche (plural, originally from
le marche de Ancona, referring to the
March of Ancona) is one of the 20
Regions of Italy.
It is located in the
Central area of the country, bordering
Emilia-Romagna and the republic of
San Marino to the north,
Tuscany to the north-west,
Umbria to the west,
Abruzzo and
Lazio to the south and the
Adriatic Sea to the east. Except for river valleys and the often very narrow coastal strip, the land is hilly. In the nineteenth century, a railway from
Bologna to
Brindisi linked the Marche along the coastline 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
The Marche were known in ancient times as the
Picenum territory. The coastal area was occupied by the
Senones, a tribe of
Gauls. They were conquered by the
Romans after the
Battle of Sentinum in 295 BC. The Romans founded numerous colonies in the areas, connecting them to Rome by the
Via Flaminia and the
Via Salaria.
Ascoli was a seat of Italic resistance during the
Social War (91–88 BC).
After the fall of the
Western Roman Empire, the region was invaded by the
Goths. After the
Gothic War, it was part of the
Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna (
Ancona,
Fano,
Pesaro,
Rimini, and
Senigallia forming the so-called
Pentapolis). After the fall of the Exarchate it was briefly in the possession of the
Lombards, but was conquered by
Charlemagne in the late eighth century. In the ninth to eleventh centuries the marches of
Camerino,
Fermo and
Ancona were created, whence the modern name.
The Marche were nominally part of the
Papal States, but most of the territory was under local lords, while the major cities ruled themselves as free communes. In the twelfth century, the commune of Ancona resisted both the imperial authority of
Frederick Barbarossa and the
Republic of Venice, and was a maritime republic on its own. An attempt to restore Papal suzerainty by
Gil de Albornoz in the fourteenth century was short-lived.
During the
Renaissance, the region was fought over by rival aristocratic families, such as the
Malatesta of Rimini,
Pesaro,
Fano and the house of
Montefeltro of
Urbino. The last independent entity, the
Duchy of Urbino, was dissolved in 1631, and from then on, the Marche were firmly part of the
Papal States except during the Napoleonic period, which saw the short lived Republic of Ancona created in 1797, the merging of the region with the
Roman Republic and the
Kingdom of Italy from 1808 to 1813, and then a short occupation by
Joachim Murat. After Napoleon's defeat, the Marche returned to Papal rule until
November 4 1860, when it was annexed to the
unified Kingdom of Italy by a
plebiscite.
Geography
The region is predominantly mountainous, with few coastal plains in which are concentrated almost all major urban centres and economic activity.
The Marche are divided into five provinces:
Economy
Under the traditional
mezzadria system, in which products are equally divided between owners and cultivators of the land, the rather unproductive soil and difficult terrain was highly cultivated. In modern times, the shoemaking, paper, furniture and shipbuilding industries were developed in the Marche. The port of Ancona is the only really good harbour, but other small harbours are used by fishing fleets: the Marche thus furnished a large number of sailors to the Italian navy.
Politics
The Marche form, along with Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany and Umbria, the Italian "Red Quadrilateral", a strongly left-wing area. In the
April 2006 elections, the people of Marche gave 55% of their votes to
Romano Prodi.
Demographics
In 2006, the
Italian national institute of statistics (ISTAT) estimated that 81,890 foreign-born immigrants live in Marche, 5.3% of total regional population.
Towns of Marche with a population of 50,000 or more:
Further Information
Get more info on 'The Marches'.
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