Gelaterie in the Marche: the complete guide to the best artisanal shops between the Adriatic coast and the inland hills

The route follows the Adriatic state road and divides naturally into stages. It begins in Pesaro, city of music and bicycles, where the Liberty-style seafront pairs well with a cone picked up in the center. Half an hour further south is Senigallia, the 'velvet beach': the town has built a gastronomic reputation over the years and its gelaterie have benefited, with workshops that treat the fruit of the interior with a chef's ambition. The third stop is Ancona, the regional capital and the city with the highest number of shops in the region, where gelato is enjoyed between the port and the Passetto, perhaps after the climb to the cathedral.

The final stretch crosses the Riviera delle Palme down to San Benedetto del Tronto, where the walk among the palms and the south pier is the right finale for the itinerary. Those with time break the journey in the intermediate towns of the Conero and the Fermo area: the density of gelaterie on the Marche coast makes it hard to pick a wrong stop — easier, if anything, to miss a good one.

The fig is a fruit with a long, concrete history in the Marche: dried, it was the sugar store of the farming winter, kneaded into the humble sweets of the countryside — the celebrated lonzino di fico, a pressed roll of dried figs and nuts, is its best-known expression. In gelato it works for the same reasons: dense pulp, deep sweetness, an almost honey-like note that holds up well to the cold. The best versions appear between August and September, when the workshops churn fresh local fruit; for the rest of the year the flavor survives in interpretations with dried or caramelized figs, often paired with ricotta or almond.

As with every signature flavor in this guide, fig is also a test: a gelateria that makes it from real fruit — recognizable by the tiny seeds and the uneven amber color — is almost certainly doing good work across the rest of the counter as well. A bright, uniform purple, by contrast, points to an industrial paste. It serves as a compass from Pesaro to San Benedetto, and doubly so in Senigallia, where the gastronomic competition has raised the bar.

The Marche itinerary lends itself to being extended in three directions. Following the coast north past Gabicce leads into Emilia-Romagna, where the Romagna riviera plays the same game with even greater means and a tradition of seaside gelaterie unmatched in Italy. Inland, beyond the Furlo gorge and the Apennine passes, Umbria offers a more intimate gelato, tied to hazelnuts and honey. Heading south along the Adriatic instead, after San Benedetto the road enters Abruzzo, where the coast of Giulianova and Pescara carries on the thread of the riviera with a character of its own.

Three borders, three different ways of understanding the same craft. Anyone who has traveled the Marche from Pesaro to San Benedetto already has the right yardstick: from here on, every cone is also a comparison.