When it comes to finding Italy’s Tuscany without tourists, the region of Le Marche instantly pops into your head as central Italy’s “best-kept secret”. Stretching 100 miles along the Adriatic coast, Le Marche has mysterious mountain ranges, a rich farming terrain with picturesque rolling hillsides covered in vineyards, and plenty of charming historical hilltop villages, including the cultural hotspots of Urbino and Ascoli Piceno, home to one of Italy’s most beautiful squares.

Le Marche is also the birthplace of the famous painter Raphael, Italy's great 19th-century author Giacomo Leopardi, motorcycle racer Valentino Rossi, and the revolutionary educator Maria Montessori.