wonderful spring picnics in the Marche

We are in the ideal weeks for picnics and outings. Especially in the Marche region which manifests its plural also in its many landscapes. Panoramas created by an impetuous nature or shaped by the work of collective properties and farmers provide pretexts for relaxation that are good for the body and mind. But they are also sources of biocultural diversity that must be read through their typical products. Therefore, here is an invitation to wander with the tablecloth in your backpack in beautiful places, to be protected, not surprisingly registered in the National Catalog of Rural Historic Landscapes.

The first step

The first stop is the Piagge, close to the walls of Ascoli Piceno. An extraordinarily emblematic place of the historical and intense relationship between city and countryside characterized by a mosaic of terraces where vegetable gardens, olive groves and vineyards arise. To be enjoyed while sipping a glass of DOP Passerina, Pecorino or Rosso Piceno. The second stop is the Macereto plateau, 3 thousand hectares between Ussita, Visso, Acquacanina, Fiastra, Fiordimonte and Pieve Torina which stands out for the always presence of pastures. The kingdom of Pecorino from the Sibillini Mountains is no coincidence that it is a Slow food Presidium that inherits the aromas of the beech or oak wood on which it is placed. Giovanni, Mirko and Luca of the Angeli brothers’ Azienda Delizie produce it in Capriglia. They breed Comisana, Sarda and Sopravissana sheep and Friesian and Pezzata Rossa cattle in a semi-wild state. Worth tasting are the other raw milk cheeses that smell of mountain herbs and a masterful first salt. In the Macerata area, the tablecloth should be placed in the Coroncina olive groves which develop largely in the municipality of Caldarola but also touch Belforte del Chienti and Serrapetrona. They live in associations with oak forests and ancient vineyards. They give an extra virgin olive oil reserved for great connoisseurs. Intense green in color with hints of artichokes accompanied by herbaceous tones and has a sweet taste but only at the beginning since an intense and persistent bitterness and spiciness prevails afterwards. In the Ancona area, the stop is on the rolling hills of Maiolati Spontini. Here too, the co-presence of “agricultural polycultures and wooded areas” prevails. Lands that bear witness to authentic stories of sharecropping where you can grow olive trees, vines, cereals, have a small courtyard and raise pigs. If today it is multifunctionality, yesterday it was survival. Landscapes to observe with a sandwich of ciauscolo, larded salami from Fabriano, splendidly interpreted since 1991 by Gherardo Benedetti in the Bottega-Osteria delle Delizie in Moie. A few kilometers and here is Loretello, one of the nine splendid castles of Arcevia. Emblem of the link between crops and dominant settlements. The main crops here are spelled, corn, grass peas to be enjoyed in cold pasta and salads and with touches of polenta, obviously from Ottofile of the ancient Roccacontrada whose company is Marino Montalbini in Magnadorsa.

The final location

Finally, the sixth stop is in the largest Cerreta in Europe, in the heart of the Sasso Simone and Simoncello Park, between Sestino, Piandimeleto, Frontino, Carpegna and Pennabilli. Here we move with the stuffed sandwich of the Prince of hams, the Carpegna Dop. Handcrafted, it boasts a bouquet that enjoys the strong and constant winds that inebriate the area.

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