Classic Meat Sauce of the Marches

While visiting The Marches, the region of Italy situated on the central Adriatic coast (Ancona is its capital), we ate at a simple trattoria called La Pianella, which we miraculously found off a narrow winding mountain road in the minuscule town of Serra S. Quirico. The food was simple but wonderful, its flavor genuinely satisfying. When our pasta arrived, it was tossed with a delicious local meat sauce, whose ingredients can change according to the cook’s whim. Its flavor, however, is alwa