This paper describes the results of a joint venture undertaken by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) and the regional government of the Marches for the improvement of earthquake monitoring in the regional territory. Besides adding many new monitoring stations to the original network, strong motion stations have been installed resorting – in order to keep down the costs of the operation - to selecting cheap but effective devices and using the existing regional wireless radio infrastructure. The data recorded by the apparatus operating within the region and in its immediate vicinity, together with a regular practice of data swapping that has been established between the Ancona branch of INGV and the INGV headquarters in Rome, allowed to achieve a dual aim: improving knowledge on the regional seismicity and supplying the Marches regional Department of Civil Protection with an efficient information service especially tailored to its particular requirements.