Le Marche, Italy's New Wedding Destination: Why Couples Are Choosing It Over Tuscany and Puglia

Le Marche is the Italian region couples are starting to choose when they want the classic Italian wedding (hills, hill towns, long dinners, great wine) without the crowds and the well-worn trail of Tuscany or Puglia. It sits on the Adriatic in central Italy, between the Sibillini mountains and the sea, and it still feels lived-in rather than staged. The honest trade-off: fewer direct flights, a smaller wedding industry and a name your aunt will need to google.

People have been calling it "the new Tuscany" for years. We think it deserves a better nickname, but let's look at why the label keeps coming up.

Why is everyone suddenly talking about Le Marche?

Italy itself is booming as a wedding destination. More than 15.000 foreign couples married in Italy in 2024, with ceremonies up 11% on the year before, according to research by the Centro Studi Turistici di Firenze for Italy for Weddings. Central Italy took the biggest share of requests, at 31,3%. Couples from the US (30,4%) and the UK (20,7%) lead the way.

Le Marche has been quietly building its reputation alongside that. Back in 2020, Lonely Planet put it second in its list of the world's top regions to visit, and the region's own figures show foreign overnight stays up almost 17% in the first nine months of 2025 compared with 2024.

And yet it still isn't crowded. In that same period, only about one in five overnight stays in Le Marche came from abroad. In Tuscany, more than half of the nearly 47 million overnight stays in 2024 were by foreign visitors. That's the gap couples are noticing: a region on the way up, before the tour buses arrive.

What makes Le Marche different?

We wrote a whole post on Le Marche vs Tuscany, so we won't repeat the price talk here. What we'd add is the feel of the place:

• Mountains and sea in one weekend. The Sibillini mountains are about an hour inland from us, the beaches of Sirolo and Numana 25 minutes the other way. Your guests can hike on Thursday and swim on Monday.
• Hill towns that are still towns. Montecassiano, Recanati, Macerata: people live here, shop here and argue about football here. Nobody is performing "Italy" for visitors.
• Food with its own accent. Vincisgrassi (the local lasagne), fried olive ascolane, ciauscolo salami and Verdicchio from the hills near Jesi. Your guests will come home talking about dishes they'd never heard of.
• Small, local suppliers. The wedding scene here is young and personal. Caterers and florists work with what grows nearby, and you're rarely one of dozens of couples on their summer calendar.

Is Le Marche really "the new Tuscany"?

Yes and no. The landscape is a cousin: rolling hills, olive groves, cypress lanes, a medieval village on every other hilltop. If your mood board is green hills at golden hour, you'll find them here.

But Le Marche isn't a copy. It's greener and more varied, it has the Adriatic on its doorstep, and it's less polished, in a good way. Tuscany has had decades of international weddings to perfect the formula. Le Marche is still writing its own. For some couples that's exactly the point.

What are the honest downsides?

We live here and we love it, but you deserve the full picture:

• Fewer flights. Ancona airport is 40 minutes from us, but it's small and many routes are seasonal. Guests from North America usually land in Rome and drive 2,5 to 3 hours. Our guide to airports, flights and transfers has the details.
• Less name recognition. You'll explain where Le Marche is more than once. (Tip: "the other side of Italy from Florence" usually works.)
• A smaller wedding industry. Fewer venues and planners than Tuscany or Puglia, so the best dates and teams book early.
• You'll want a car. The hill towns are beautiful partly because they're hard to reach by train. Plan transfers for the wedding days.
• Summer is hot. July and August are sunny and warm, so plan the ceremony for late afternoon rather than noon.

If none of those scare you, keep reading.

Who is Le Marche right for?

We think it suits couples who care more about how the weekend feels than about a famous postcode. Couples who want their guests to discover somewhere new, to eat very well and to spend a few days together, not just one evening. It's also a natural fit for smaller weddings, because the region does intimate and personal better than big and glossy.

Where Maniero fits in

Maniero is an exclusive-use villa on a 4-hectare estate near Montecassiano, in the province of Macerata. For a wedding weekend, the whole estate is yours from Friday to Sunday: weddings up to 90 guests, 18 of your people sleeping in the villa, the 20-metre pool, the padel court and a ceremony spot under an old olive tree with views of the hills. We host no more than 8 weddings a year.

We only rent out the villa. Your planner, caterer, florist and DJ come from suppliers we like (or your own), and they quote and invoice you directly. The venue rental starts from €17.000, and our Wedding brochure 2029 shows an example weekend with the schedule and the menu. You'll find the rest on the wedding venue page, or take a virtual tour from your sofa.

Thinking about Le Marche?

2027 and 2028 are fully booked, 2028 has a waiting list, and we're now taking requests for 2029. Tell us your year, your guest count and where your people are flying from, and we'll tell you honestly whether Le Marche is right for you. Get in touch.