Marche in the context of Cupramontana

The Picentes or Piceni or Picentini were an ancient Italic people who lived from the 9th to the 3rd century BC in the area between the Foglia and Aterno rivers, bordered to the west by the Apennines and to the east by the Adriatic coast. Their territory, known as Picenum, therefore included all of today's Marche and the northern part of Abruzzo. Recently, a genome-wide archaeogenetic study of individuals from two Picene necropoleis found that all the individuals associated with this culture display genetic continuity with earlier populations.

The limits of Picenum depend on the era; during the early classical antiquity the region between the Apennines and the Adriatic Sea south of Ancona was Picenum (South Picenians), while between Ancona and Rimini to the north the population was multi-ethnic (North Picenians) because after 390 BC the Senoni Gauls had combined with or supplanted earlier populations. In the Roman Republic the coastal part of northern Picenum was called the ager Gallicus.

Ancona (/æŋˈkoʊnə/, also US: /ænˈ-, ɑːnˈ-/; Italian: [aŋˈkoːna] ) is a city and a seaport in the Marches region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 as of 2015. Ancona is the capital of the homonymous province and of the region. The city is located 280 km (170 mi) northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic Sea, between the slopes of the two extremities of the promontory of Monte Conero, Monte Astagno and Monte Guasco. The hilly nature around Ancona is a strong contrast to the flatter coastline in areas further north.

Ancona is one of the main ports on the Adriatic Sea, especially for passenger traffic, and is the main economic and demographic centre of the region.

Ascoli Piceno (Italian: [ˈaskoli piˈtʃɛːno] ; Ascolano [it]: Ascule; Latin: Asculum) is a comune (municipality) and capital of the province of Ascoli Piceno, in the Italian region of Marche.

Regio VI Umbria (also named Regio VI Umbria et Ager Gallicus) is the name for one of the 11 administrative regions into which the emperor Augustus divided Italy. The main source for the regions is the Historia Naturalis of Pliny the Elder, who informs his readers he is basing the geography of Italy on the descriptio Italiae, "division of Italy", made by Augustus. The Regio Sexta ("6th Region") is called Umbria complexa agrumque Gallicam citra Ariminium ("Umbria including the Gallic country this side of Rimini").

Umbria is named after an Italic people, the Umbri, who were gradually subjugated by the Romans in the 4th through the 2nd centuries BC. Although it passed the name on to the modern region of Umbria, the two coincide only partially. Roman Umbria extended from Narni in the South, northeastward to the neighborhood of Ravenna on the Adriatic coast, thus including a large part of central Italy that now belongs to the Marche; at the same time, it excluded the Sabine country (generally speaking, the area around modern Norcia) and the right bank of the Tiber, which – being inhabited by Etruscans – formed part of Regio VII Etruria: for example Perusia (the modern Perugia) and Orvieto (its ancient name is unknown), two Etruscan cities – were not part of Roman Umbria; on the contrary Sarsina, Plautus birthplace, was considered to be "in Umbria", while today it is in the modern province of Forlì-Cesena, in Emilia-Romagna.

Urbino (UK: /ɜːrˈbiːnoʊ/ ur-BEE-noh, Italian: [urˈbiːno] ; Romagnol: Urbìn) is a comune (municipality) in the Italian region of Marche, southwest of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of Federico da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino from 1444 to 1482.

The town, nestled on a high sloping hillside, retains much of its picturesque medieval aspect. It hosts the University of Urbino, founded in 1506, and is the seat of the Archbishop of Urbino. Its best-known architectural piece is the Palazzo Ducale, rebuilt by Luciano Laurana.

Città di Castello (Italian pronunciation: [tʃitˈta ddi kasˈtɛllo], lit. 'Castle Town') is a city and comune (municipality) in the province of Perugia, in the northern part of Umbria. It is situated on a slope of the Apennines, on the flood plain along the upper part of the river Tiber. The city is 56 km (35 mi) north of Perugia and 104 km (65 mi) south of Cesena, Emilia-Romagna, on the highway SS 3 bis. It is connected by the SS 73 with Arezzo, Tuscany, and the A1 highway, situated 38 km (23 mi) west. The comune of Città di Castello has an exclave named Monte Ruperto within Marche.

Picenum was a region of ancient Italy. The name was assigned by the Romans, who conquered and incorporated it into the Roman Republic. Picenum became Regio V in the Augustan territorial organisation of Roman Italy. It is now in Marche and the northern part of Abruzzo.

The Piceni or Picentes were the native population of Picenum, but they were not of uniform ethnicity. They maintained a sanctuary to the Sabine goddess Cupra in Cupra Marittima.

The Foglia (also called Isauro, e.g. in Belforte all'Isauro) is the northernmost river of the Marche region of Italy. In ancient times it was known as Pisaurus, as it debouched into the Adriatic Sea at Pisaurum (modern Pesaro). It was also known as the Isaurus. The source of the river is west of Sestino in the province of Arezzo (which is in the Tuscany region of Italy) in the Umbrian-Marchean Apennines mountains. It flows east through an extension of the province of Pesaro e Urbino and then back into Arezzo before forming the border between Arezzo and Pesaro e Urbino. The river then flows into the province of Pesaro e Urbino past Piandimeleto and curves northeast and flows past Sassocorvaro before curving east again. The river meanders south of Montecalvo in Foglia before curving northeast and flowing near Colbordolo, Saludecio, Sant'Angelo in Lizzola, Montecchio, Montelabbate and Tavullia before entering the Adriatic Sea near Pesaro.

A personification of the river was etched by Simone Cantarini.

Abruzzo (US: /ɑːˈbruːtsoʊ, əˈ-/, UK: /æˈbrʊtsoʊ/, Italian: [aˈbruttso]; Abruzzese Neapolitan: Abbrùzze [abˈbruttsə], Abbrìzze [abˈbrittsə], or Abbrèzze [abˈbrɛttsə]; Aquilano: Abbrùzzu), historically also known as Abruzzi, is a region of Southern Italy. It has an area of 10,831.84 square kilometres (4,182.20 sq mi) and a population of nearly 1.3 million. It is divided into four provinces: L'Aquila, Teramo, Pescara, and Chieti. Its western border, shared with Lazio, lies 80 km (50 mi) east of Rome. L'Aquila is both the capital city of the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila, and is the second largest city. The other provincial capitals are Pescara, which is Abruzzo's largest city and major port, Teramo, and Chieti. Other large cities and towns in Abruzzo include the industrial and high tech center Avezzano, as well as three important industrial and touristic centers, Vasto, Lanciano, and Sulmona.

Abruzzo borders the region of Marche to the north, Lazio to the west and northwest, Molise to the south, and the Adriatic Sea to the east. Geographically, Abruzzo is divided into a mountainous area in the west, which includes the highest massifs of the Apennines, such as the Gran Sasso d'Italia and the Maiella, and a coastal area in the east, with beaches on the Adriatic Sea.

The Ager Gallicus was the territory in northern Picenum that had been occupied by the Senone Gauls and was conquered by Rome between 284 and 282 BC, after the battles of the Lake Vadimon and Populonia.

The territory corresponds to the portion of the modern Marche region lying north of the Esino river, on the coast Adriatic Sea.

The Kingdom of Italy (Italian: Regno d'Italia; French: Royaume d'Italie) was a kingdom in Northern Italy (formerly the Italian Republic) that was a client state of Napoleon's French Empire. It was fully influenced by revolutionary France and ended with Napoleon's defeat and fall. Its government was assumed by Napoleon as King of Italy and the viceroyalty delegated to his stepson Eugène de Beauharnais. It covered some of Piedmont and the modern regions of Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino, South Tyrol, and Marche. Napoleon I also ruled the rest of northern and central Italy in the form of Nice, Aosta, Piedmont, Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, but directly as part of the French Empire (as departments), rather than as part of a vassal state.

At its peak, the kingdom covered 84,000 square kilometers and had a population of 6.5 million.

The Redshirts (Italian: Camicie rosse or Giubbe rosse), also called the Red Coats, are volunteers who followed the Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi during his campaigns. The name derived from the colour of their shirts or loose-fitting blouses that the volunteers, usually called Garibaldini, wore in lieu of a uniform.

The force originated as the Italian Legion supporting the Colorado Party during the Uruguayan Civil War. The story is that Garibaldi was given red shirts destined for slaughterhouse workers. Later, during the wars of Italian unification, the Redshirts won several battles against the armies of the Austrian Empire, the Kingdom of Two Sicilies and the Papal States. Most notably, Garibaldi led his Redshirts in the Expedition of the Thousand of 1860, which concluded with the annexation of Sicily, Southern Italy, Marche, and Umbria to the Kingdom of Sardinia, which led to the creation of a unified Kingdom of Italy. His military enterprises in South America and Europe made Garibaldi become known as the "Hero of the Two Worlds".

The province of Ancona (Italian: provincia di Ancona) is a province in the Marche region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Ancona, and the province borders the Adriatic Sea. The city of Ancona is also the capital of Marche.

To the north, the province is bordered by the Adriatic Sea, and the Apennine Mountains to the west. The population of the province is mostly located in coastal areas and in the provincial capital Ancona, which has a population of 101,518; the province has a total population of 477,892 as of 2015.

The Gallo-Italic or Gallo-Italian languages constitute the majority of the Romance languages of northern Italy: Piedmontese, Lombard, Emilian, Ligurian, and Romagnol. In central Italy they are spoken in the northern Marches (Gallo-Italic of the Marches); in southern Italy in some language islands in Basilicata (Gallo-Italic of Basilicata) and Sicily (Gallo-Italic of Sicily).

Although most publications define Venetian as part of the Italo-Dalmatian branch, both Ethnologue and Glottolog group it into the Gallo-Italic languages.

The province of Ascoli Piceno (Italian: provincia di Ascoli Piceno) is a province in the Marche region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Ascoli Piceno, and the province is bordered by the Adriatic Sea to the east, the province of Fermo to the north, and it faces the regions of Umbria and Abruzzo to the south. The province contains 33 comuni (sg.: comune). The population of the province is mostly located in coastal areas and in the city of San Benedetto del Tronto, which has a population of 47,075; the province has a total population of 201,462 as of 2023.

The first settlers of the province were located on the banks of River Tronto by the Picentes tribe. It was later conquered by the Romans and became known as Asculum Picenum by 268 BCE. From 91-88 BCE the Picentes revolted against the Romans and attempted to re-claim the land, but Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo besieged and sacked the city. The town of Ascoli Piceno managed to revive, but after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, it was conquered many times. King of the Ostrogoths Totila invaded the town in 545. Ascoli Piceno was then under strong control from the church and was made free in 1185, but the bishop declared it under his control in 1212.

Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo (c. 135 – 87 BC) was a Roman general and politician, who served as consul in 89 BC. He is often referred to in English as Pompey Strabo, to distinguish him from his son, the famous Pompey the Great, or from Strabo the geographer.

Strabo, the cognomen, means "cross eyed". He lived in the Roman Republic and was born and raised into a noble family in Picenum (in the south and the north of the modern regions of Marche and Abruzzo respectively) in central Italy, on the Adriatic Coast. Strabo's mother was called Lucilia. Lucilia's family originated from Suessa Aurunca (modern Sessa Aurunca) and she was a sister of satiric poet Gaius Lucilius. Lucilius was a friend of Roman general Scipio Aemilianus. Strabo's paternal grandfather was Gnaeus Pompeius, while his father was Sextus Pompeius. His elder brother was Sextus Pompeius and his sister was Pompeia.

The Via Flaminia (lit. 'Flaminian Way') was an ancient Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to Ariminum (Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans had for travel between Etruria, Latium, Campania, and the Po Valley. The section running through northern Rome is where Constantine the Great, allegedly, had his famous vision of the Chi Rho, leading to his conversion to Christianity and the Christianization of the Roman Empire.

Today the same route, still called by the same name for much of its distance, is paralleled or overlaid by Strada Statale (SS) 3, also called Strada Regionale (SR) 3 in Lazio and Umbria, and Strada Provinciale (SP) 3 in Marche. It leaves Rome, goes up the Val Tevere ("Valley of the Tiber") and into the mountains at Castello delle Formiche, ascends to Gualdo Tadino, continuing over the divide at Scheggia Pass, 575 m (1,886 ft) to Cagli. From there it descends the eastern slope waterways between the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and the Umbrian Apennines to Fano on the coast and goes north, parallel to Highway A14 to Rimini.

The Basilica della Santa Casa (English: Basilica of the Holy House) is a Marian shrine in Loreto, in the Marches, Italy. The basilica is known for enshrining the house in which the Blessed Virgin Mary is believed by some Catholics to have lived. Pious legends claim the same house was flown over by angelic beings from Nazareth to Tersatto (Trsat in Croatia), then to Recanati, before arriving at the current site.

The basilica is also known for enshrining the Madonna and Child image of "Our Lady of Loreto". Pope Benedict XV designated her under this title as patroness of air passengers and auspicious travel on 24 March 1920. Pope Pius XI granted a Canonical Coronation to the venerated image made of Cedar of Lebanon wood on 5 September 1922, replacing the original Marian image consumed in fire on 23 February 1921.