Our favorite Italian region for classic dolce vita

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So you want rippling hills studded with medieval towns, a coastline with some of Italy's best beaches, superb food, and some of the dreamiest landscapes on the entire boot? You need Marche.

That's right, Marche (aka Le Marche -- pronounced mar-kay). Sitting quietly on the other side of the Apennine mountains from Tuscany, but happy to let its neighbors take the crowds, this is our all-around favorite region.

Marche is Italy 101: nearly 4,000 square miles of unfurling hills, dramatic mountains, sandy beaches and culture galore. And yet it sees just one-tenth of the international visitors of Tuscany.

Marche even knits together northern and southern Italy which, elsewhere, seem like two different worlds. Visit plummy university city Urbino, and you could be anywhere in the north of Italy. Ascoli Piceno, though, with its shimmering travertine piazzas and Baroque fountains (complete with elderly men watching the world go by), feels very much like the sizzling south.

Those two cities, topping and tailing the region, are up there with Italy's most spectacular towns. Spilling down a hillside, Urbino is one of the best-preserved Renaissance cities, where terracotta-paved streets built for horses still prohibit cars, and the twin-turreted Ducal Palace is cantilevered over the billowing hills. Raphael was born here -- at his birthplace, you'll see a "Madonna and Child," believed to have been frescoed by the teenage painter. His father was court painter to Federico da Montefeltro, the hyper-cultured Renaissance ruler, whose palace is now one of Italy's most evocative art galleries.

Little Ascoli Piceno, meanwhile, is jaw-droppingly beautiful -- entirely clad in brilliant travertine, its buildings running from Romanesque to Art Nouveau.

There's much more to see. Macerata province is full of tiny, jewel-like hilltop towns. Pesaro and Fano are elegant seaside resorts. And the Riviera del Conero is a natural park, with wild beaches backed by chalk-white cliffs. Nondescript churches are stuffed with great artworks by the likes of Carlo Crivelli and Giovanni Santi (Raphael's dad -- see what's thought to be his self-portrait with his son as a saint and angel in Cagli's San Domenico church). This region has everything. Just don't tell anyone else.

Summer is glorious, though busy with Italian tourists, while in spring the rolling landscapes are dusted with wildflowers. The Rossini Opera Festival takes place every August in Fano (the composer's birthplace), while the Macerata Opera Festival is held every July-August in the Sferisterio -- a Neoclassical amphitheater built for games of bracciale, a Renaissance ball game still popular here.

"What's special about the Marche is that it's composed of regions within a region -- stretched between mountains and the sea, and divided by valleys, all of which have their own different realities, whether that's cultural, artistic, culinary or linguistic. Every single town is hiding an artistic or cultural treasure; there are truly important archaeological sites (like Urbisaglia), unmissable wonders of nature (the Furlo gorge, for example), about 100 historical theaters even in the smallest towns, and museums which collate the art of 2,000 years of human history.

Treia has a special place in my heart -- I still remember the emotion visiting the Neoclassical Villa della Quiete and its pavilions in the English-style garden as a student. I also like Ancona, because of its port which looks east -- watching the boats sail off always fascinates me."

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In the hills outside Urbino, this is the best of both worlds: a country estate with easy access to the city of art, a 20-minute drive away. A conversion of an abandoned 17th century hamlet (the rooms are in former houses), it's surrounded by the farm's organic vineyards and olive groves. There's plenty to do on-site, from horseback riding and vineyard tours to tractor rides around the estate.

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Stanley Tucci dives into brodetto with this recipe from "The Tucci Cookbook." As in the Ancona version, fresh fish is the key. Buon appetito!