For years I told my customers to avoid the overdeveloped coast of the Marche and to head inland to the renaissance perfection of Urbino. There is a great pleasure in discovering the unknown towns and villages of the northern Marche but I was more excited when I came upon the beautiful stretch of coast just south of Ancona where the cliffs of Mount Conero produce a landscape more reminiscent of Cornwall than the Adriatic. The final discovery was best kept for last - pretty medieval towns set against the rolling hills of the southern Marche. And if you can name a more beautiful square in Italy than the Piazza del Popolo in Ascoli Piceno I will have to disagree with you.