One of the greatest pleasures in travelling, for many, is the chance to experience local cultures and tastes in food. Le Marche is the perfect place to come for food and food festivals – it is the area’s passion.

Le Marche is a region of abundance. The land has been caring for those who live on it for hundreds of years, and it continues to yield produce celebrated for its quality because it is cared for in return. Le Marche tariffs favour those who run organic farms, and traditional ‘mezzadria’ small farm methods are still the most common.

Olives and olive oil, particularly from Ascoli, are especially fine. During the 13th Century, ships from the region paid separate river tolls, as their olive oil was, and still is, in a class of its own. A rich and unusual delicacy that must be tried is All’ascolana – olives from Ascoli, stuffed and fried.

Much of the traditional food of Le Marche has an unusual, and sometimes august history. Michelangelo owned land near Urbino, which produced a cheese named Casciotta - particularly admired by the Popes of Rome. Or try Formaggio di Fossa - a rich amber, fragrant cheese, matured in stone cellars for three months to keep it from the hands of marauding soldiers. This cheese is usually eaten with the delicate Le Marche sunflower or acacia honey – an unusual but wonderful mix of flavours. The Sibillini mountains produce a profusion of pecorino cheeses, flavoured with different fruits and spices.

Truffles are another Marche delicacy, the most common in the region being the White truffle, worth many times its weight in gold. Less expensive, but as delicious, are the wild forest mushrooms found in the late summer and autumn.

Fruits such as blackberries, pomegranates, peaches and apricots are all sun-sweet, grown by local farmers. Then there is the wild game, fine pork and salami and the fresh-this-morning fish, lobsters and oysters from the bright fishing fleets of Ancona or San Benedetto del Tronto.

Le Marche has everything a true gastronomist could wish for, and to wash down your meal, it also has a huge selection of wines - look out for the Rosso Piceno Superiore and the Verdicchio Castelli di Jesi. Whichever season you travel in, you will find something to marvel at.