Ancona is an Italian town of 98 866 inhabitants, capital of the
province of the same name and of the Marche. Overlooking the
Adriatic Sea, it has one of the largest Italian ports. City of art
rich in monuments and with 2400 years of history, it is one of the
main economic centers of the region, as well as its main urban
center in terms of size and population.
Stretching towards
the sea, the city stands on a promontory in the shape of a bent
elbow, which protects the largest natural harbor in the central
Adriatic. The Greeks of Syracuse, who founded the city in 387 BC,
noticed the shape of this promontory and for this reason they called
the new city Ἀγκών, Ankón, which in Greek means "elbow". The Greek
origin of Ancona is remembered by the name with which it is known:
the "Doric city".
There are twenty-seven neighborhoods and districts of Ancona, while there are twelve hamlets. Since 2009 the whole territory has been divided into three districts. In 2017 the previous constituencies were replaced by nine democratic participation bodies, called "Participatory Territorial Councils" (CTP acronym), which include districts, neighborhoods and hamlets of the city. In particular, we recall CTP2, which includes three districts partially included in the Conero Regional Park, and CTP8, made up of hamlets entirely included in this protected area.
The most important monuments of the city arise in the most
significant places on its promontory: the Cathedral, at its summit, the
Arch of Trajan and the Lazzaretto in the port, the Citadel on the top of
a hill overlooking the sea and the War Memorial in the place where the
central valley of the city flows into the high coast.
The most
important historical testimonies are linked to the two periods of
maximum splendor of the city and its port: the era of the maritime
republic and that of the eighteenth-century free port.
The Cathedral of San Ciriaco is one of the symbols of the city, both
because with its more than twenty-four centuries it summarizes its
history, and because with its position, on the top of the Guasco hill
and on the furthest point of the promontory, it dominates the port, the
gulf and characterizes the panoramas of the city: it is visible even
from some suburban districts. It is a fusion of Romanesque and Byzantine
art, the latter present in the Greek cross plan and in the sculptures.
The two column-bearing lions of the portal are themselves one of the
city's symbols.
For the Middle Ages, in addition to the
Cathedral, two other churches are notable. The first is Santa Maria
della Piazza, which has a Byzantine-inspired arched façade and a portal
full of symbolic figures; from inside it is possible to access the
remains of the underlying paleo-Christian basilica. The second is the
monastic church of Santa Maria di Portonovo; it is located on the
outskirts of the city, between the forest and the beach of Portonovo and
under the cliffs of Monte Conero. It has a singular plan, a fusion
between a basilica with five naves and a Greek cross.
In the
fifteenth century, the Dalmatian sculptor and architect Giorgio da
Sebenico left three notable examples of the Adriatic Renaissance in the
city: the portals of the church of San Francesco alle Scale and of the
former church of Sant'Agostino and the facade of a civil building: the
Loggia of the Merchants. The same artist is also the author of Palazzo
Benincasa, a Gothic noble palace.
Coming to the eighteenth
century, we remember: the church of the Santissimo Sacramento, with a
Baroque interior full of sculptures and an original spiral-shaped bell
tower, the Church of Jesus, by Luigi Vanvitelli, with whose concave
facade the architect completed his program of redesign of the city, the
Church of San Domenico, by Carlo Marchionni, which spectacularly
dominates Piazza del Papa, and the church of the Scalzi, remarkable for
its copper-covered dome that stands out in the panorama of the city seen
from the port.
The two ancient synagogues of Ancona, the
Levantine one and the Italian one, are housed in a single building, in
the heart of the ancient ghetto; the ancient and large Jewish cemetery,
the Campo degli Ebrei, is also suggestive, panoramically located near
the edge of the cliff.
We also note the presence, in the suburbs,
of the small sixteenth-century church of Santa Maria Liberatrice and the
neo-Gothic church of the Cappuccini, with paintings by Fra Paolo
Mussini.
Exceptional testimony of the Ancient Age is the Arch of Trajan,
attributed to Apollodorus of Damascus, which stands on the pier that the
emperor wanted to protect the port. The Roman amphitheater has been
completely excavated in the area of the main entrance, called "Arco
Bonarelli", while the rear part of the monument has not yet been
completely brought to light and is therefore difficult to read for the
layman.
Between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, three were
the palaces in which the government of the Republic of Ancona was based:
the Romanesque Palazzo del Senato, the very tall Gothic Palazzo degli
Anziani, with the main facade rebuilt in the seventeenth century, and
the Government Palace, to which the architect Francesco di Giorgio
Martini also worked, flanked by the tower that dominates Piazza del
Papa.
For the Renaissance, the two most significant monuments are
mentioned. The first is the mighty Citadel, a fortification with a
pentagonal star plan, the work of Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, one
of the very first examples of an Italian bastion front; it is the seat
of the permanent Secretariat of the Adriatic Ionian Initiative. The
second is Palazzo Ferretti, seat of the National Archaeological Museum
of the Marches, with a hanging courtyard overlooking the port.
The eighteenth century saw an artistic renaissance in the city, of which
Luigi Vanvitelli was the protagonist, who in addition to the
aforementioned Church of Jesus left the city with the Lazzaretto, a
singular and very vast pentagonal construction, built inside the port on
an artificial island; the Arco Clementino and the section of the pier on
which it stands are also inspired by Vanvitelli. After the radical urban
interventions by Vanvitelli, the city was equipped with a new monumental
entrance, Porta Pia, which acts as a counterpoint to the Arch of Trajan,
on the opposite side of the port.
The Teatro delle Muse dates
back to the 19th century, with a neoclassical façade bearing on the
pediment the high reliefs of the nine muses, Apollo and Palemone, god of
ports.
Notable from the twentieth century are the Mercato delle
Erbe, an architecture in cast iron and glass in Art Nouveau style, and
the Monument to the fallen, with its spectacular staircase leading to
the sea below, soon accepted among the symbols of the city.
In the archaeological area of the Temple of Aphrodite, located under
the Cathedral, the base of the temple is visible, studying which it was
possible to ideally reconstruct the whole building, which from the top
of the Guasco hill dominated the Greek and Roman Ancona. The excavation
is accessible from inside the Cathedral, but despite its considerable
interest, it has been closed to visitors for years.
The
archaeological excavations of the Roman amphitheater have already been
given an account in the section Civil and military architecture.
Under the church of Santa Maria della Piazza there are the remains of
the early Christian basilica which, according to some studies, would
have been the ancient cathedral of Santo Stefano, the first in the city.
This archaeological area can be accessed from inside the church, and it
is possible to admire polychrome mosaics with early Christian symbols,
the remains of the apses, the colonnades, the baptismal font and the
chair.
Streets
Via XXIX Settembre overlooks the port quays, the arrivals
and departures of ships and one of the most classic panoramas of the
city, dominated by the Cathedral and the old lighthouse and the old
districts perched on the hills. At the beginning of the street is the
bronze statue of Trajan, which recalls the enlargement of the port
decided by the emperor.
Via della Loggia is the ancient via del
Porto, overlooked by buildings that have witnessed the history of the
seafaring city, including the Loggia dei Mercanti and Palazzo Benincasa.
The promenade "from sea to sea", i.e. from the docks of the port to
the Passetto viewpoint, allows you to join the two sides of the
promontory on which the city stands; it consists of the three main
avenues and Viale della Vittoria. The three avenues, dedicated to
Garibaldi (Corso Nuovo), Mazzini (Corso Vecchio) and to Stamira, run
parallel through the nineteenth-century districts of the city and
constitute its commercial centre. Viale della Vittoria, on the other
hand, crosses the urban expansion of the early twentieth century and
presents interesting examples of eclectic and liberty architecture.
Via del Comune (Via Pizzecolli), before the opening of the
nineteenth-century courses, was for centuries the main street of the
city. It runs uphill throughout the very ancient district of San Pietro
and leads to the top of Colle Guasco, where the Cathedral stands; it has
a medieval appearance and is full of historic buildings, monuments and
panoramic views of the port.
Via Astagno, with the neighboring
alleys, constituted the ancient Jewish ghetto, with its tall buildings
and narrow, steep streets.
There are four central squares in the city.
Piazza della
Repubblica, commonly known as "del Teatro", is the point of union
between the center and the port; you can see the docks, with the ferries
leaving for Greece and the Balkan countries; the Teatro delle Muse
overlooks it.
Piazza del Papa, with its singularly elongated
shape, is the heart of the oldest districts of the city. It takes its
name from the statue of Pope Clement XII, responsible for the
eighteenth-century revival of port traffic; it is a very popular evening
hangout.
The nineteenth-century Piazza Cavour is the largest in
the city and is arranged as a garden, like the nearby Piazza Stamira; in
both squares the flowerbeds are characterized by palm trees of various
species.
Piazza Roma, together with Corso Vecchio, hosts the
lively market of stalls on weekdays and is characterized by the Fontana
dei Cavalli; a few steps away is the ancient Fontana delle Tredici
Spouts; according to tradition, those who have to leave can ensure their
return to the city by drinking the water from this fountain.
The best-known panoramic places in Ancona are: the Piazzale del Duomo, overlooking the port, the city and the coast, visible as far as Pesaro; Porta Pia, with a view of the port, the cathedral and the lighthouse, the Capodimonte belvedere, from which you can observe the pentagonal island of the Lazzaretto surrounded by the Mandracchio, the Pincio, with a view of the city and the port, the Passetto pine forest, overlooking the high coast, visible up to Monte Conero. To these classic panoramic points are added those opened to the public in recent decades: the Red Lantern, with a complete view of the ancient districts arranged like an amphitheater around the port, and the Lighthouse, high on the cliffs and roofs of the ancient city.
The city is well equipped with avenues, tree-lined squares and parks,
which are panoramic because they are located on the highest parts of the
hills; in fact, it has 52 m² of greenery per inhabitant. Among them are
listed the most important from a historical and landscape point of view.
Cardeto Park
The Cardeto Park, the largest in the city (about 35
hectares) is characterized by interesting historical testimonies, by a
high degree of naturalness and by numerous panoramic points. It
overlooks the sea and occupies the top of two hills: Monte Cardeto and
Colle dei Cappuccini. Inside there are areas of natural meadows,
evergreen groves, broom bushes; the spontaneous blooms (including those
of various wild orchids) follow one another throughout the year.
Passetto Park
The Passetto Park is located south of the War Memorial.
It is located overlooking the sea, to which a path leads; it is
characterized by the presence of three artificial lakes, a skating rink
and a public swimming pool and terraces overlooking the sea. For years
left in decay, its recent restoration has been marked by legal events
which have revealed a poorly executed and poorly realized design.
Citadel Park
The Park of the Citadel of Ancona is surrounded by
the walls of Campo Trincerato, it borders the Citadel, from which it
takes its name. Inside the park, the ancient military structures coexist
with largely spontaneous vegetation; interesting is the presence of a
path dedicated to the tactile and olfactory knowledge of the plant
world.
Pincio
The Pincio di Ancona, not very extensive, is of
great historical importance, given that it is the oldest in the city,
having been built after 1870 to celebrate the capture of Rome. Like its
Roman namesake, the Pincio di Ancona is full of evergreens, has a
geometric layout of the paths and has a belvedere from which you can
enjoy a broad view of the city.
Villa Santa Margherita
Villa
Santa Margherita dates back to the 19th century and is organized like a
romantic garden: among the vegetation that imitates the natural
landscape there are architectural backdrops, an orangery and a belvedere
building immersed in the woods, full of monumental trees. For twenty
years it was the seat of the convent of the Friars Minor.
Cras
Park
Cras Park was born in 1901 as a garden of the Psychiatric
Hospital; it has the most luxuriant trees in the city, having been
spared from pruning for many years. It is also interesting for the
organization of the spaces in large green courtyards connected by
porticoes covered by wooden trusses, which make the park open to
visitors even in the rain.
Conero Regional Park
A large part
of the coastal strip of the municipal area of Ancona falls within the
Conero Regional Park, characterized by large evergreen Mediterranean
scrub woods, cliffs overlooking the sea, beaches that can only be
reached by swimming or by rough roads, a countryside of high landscape
value and rich in typical products, such as lavender, honey, oil,
legumes. Portonovo should be mentioned among the Ancona localities
within the Park, a very popular destination for Ancona residents and
tourists, with its woods close to the beaches and its ancient monuments.
A peculiarity of the city is the fact that the Conero Park also
includes purely urban areas: among them the Passetto area, with its
cliffs, pine forest and cliffs, and that of the Valli di Pietralacroce,
which descend from the town center towards the edge of the cliffs; four
small roads lead to the sea, crossing woods and meadows. These areas are
filled with vantage points of the cliffs below and the city.
The
seabed
For years the hypothesis of establishing a marine park in the
sea that bathes the eastern coast of the city and the Conero park has
been under discussion at the Ministry of the Environment, motivated by
the presence of seabeds of great naturalistic richness: it is not common
in the Adriatic to meet, for example, madrepores, gorgonians and many
species of nudibranchs. On a very busy coast where the relationship with
the sea is ancient and intense, it is planned to protect the marine
environment without impeding traditional and harmless uses for nature,
such as bathing, sailing or rowing and small amateur fishing.
Selva di Gallignano and the University Botanical Garden
The Selva di
Gallignano, covering approximately 100 hectares, is a rare testimony of
the autochthonous deciduous forest that once characterized the hills of
the Marche region. It is a protected floristic area and is the heart of
the Botanical Garden of the University of Ancona, as well as its
greatest peculiarity. Some collections make it possible to conserve
ex-situ some endemic Adriatic species, spontaneous food species and
local medicinal plants.
Sea festival. first Sunday of September. It consists of a very lively
procession of hundreds of boats that go from the port to the sea to
honor the fallen at sea with a religious ceremony. On land, shows,
parades, concerts and the "degli Archi" fair are held in the seaside
district of the city. The day ends with a highly anticipated fireworks
display, mirroring the waters of the port.
The Coming. It is held on
the evenings of 8 and 9 December, lighting large bonfires in various
parts of the city and also in the countryside; in fact, on December 10th
the Madonna of Loreto is celebrated, and tradition has it that today's
fires remember those that in 1200 served to light the way to the Holy
House which was arriving in flight in the nearby center of Loreto.
Carnival. From the 1950s onwards it was celebrated with mask parades in
the streets of the center and was recently called "Carnevalò". The
city's historic mask was Papagnoco, while the new Ancona carnival mask,
chosen in 1999 by popular vote, is Mosciolino.
May Fair. it is held
from 1st to 4th May in honor of the Patron Saint. He sees the faithful
go up to the Cathedral to honor the body of the early Christian martyr,
displayed in the crypt only in the month of May, while hundreds of
stalls invade the streets of the center for the occasion.
Feast of
the Madonna of the Sea of Portonovo. Mid-August. The festival is divided
into a procession during which the members of the confraternity of S.
Lucia go from Poggio to Portonovo accompanying the image of the Madonna
del pescatore; from here the procession continues on boats that reach
the open sea where the ritual of crowns thrown into the waves takes
place in honor of the victims of the sea. The procession continues until
it reaches the church of Santa Maria di Portonovo, where the religious
function takes place.
By plane
Raffaello Sanzio Airport of Ancona (IATA: AOI), located
in Falconara Marittima, 18 km from Ancona and known as "Marche Airport",
has regular flights to Rome, Munich and some European cities.
By
car
To get to Ancona by road you can take:
From the north: the A14
Adriatica motorway and then the 16 Adriatica state road with exit at the
Ancona Nord toll booth (in Castelferretti).
From the west: the SS3
Flaminia state road and then the Val d'Esino state road 76. Typically
used by those coming from Rome.
From the south: the Adriatica state
road and exit at the Ancona Sud toll booth (at Aspio).
On boat
Connections from the port of Ancona are regular with Croatia, Albania,
Montenegro, Greece and Turkey.
Modest prices
1 B&B Villa Colle, Strada del Castellano 38, ☎ +39
3391020153, info@villacolle.net. €30-€40. B&B located in a villa
surrounded by greenery, a few kilometers from Portonovo, Conero Riviera.
You can reach the city center with the bus stop in front of the B&B. You
can bring pets, and pet sitting is available.
2 B&B Ulivi, Via De
Dominicis 30, ☎ +39 3661868223. €30-€40. Bed and Breakfast adjacent to
the city center of Ancona but located in a quiet residential
neighborhood surrounded by greenery.
High prices
Hotel NH
Ancona, Rupi di Via XXIX Settembre, 14, ☎ +39 071 201171,
nhancona@nh-hotels.com. The NH Ancona hotel is located in the heart of
the shopping area of Ancona, just 200 meters from Corso Garibaldi and
the cathedral, in front of the Fontana del Calamo and the Mole
Vanvitelliana, place of numerous prestigious events. Our location is
ideal for those traveling on business or, simply, for those who love the
rich historical and artistic heritage of Ancona.
3 Hotel Fortino
Napoleonico, Via Poggio - Portonovo, ☎ +39 071 801450,
info@hotelfortino.it. Luxury hotel located in a former Napoleonic fort,
on the sea.
Grand Hotel Palace Ancona, Lungomare Luigi Vanvitelli, 24
(In the historic center near the port), ☎ +39 071 201813,
info@grandhotelpalaceancona.com. Luxury hotel located in an ancient
noble palace.
Grand Hotel Passetto, Via Thaon de Revel. 1 (Near the
city centre), ☎ +39 07131307, info@grandhotelpassetto.com. Check-in:
3pm, check-out: 12pm. 4 star hotel, overlooking the sea.
The city of Ancona is located on the central
Adriatic coast on a promontory formed by the northern slopes of
Monte Conero or Monte d'Ancona. This promontory gives rise to a
gulf, the gulf of Ancona, in the innermost part of which is the
natural harbor. In Ancona the sun rises and sets on the sea; the
phenomenon is due to the elbow shape of its promontory, bathed by
the sea both to the east and to the west and is typical of coasts
with a similar geographical position. Another geographical
peculiarity of Ancona is the possibility of observing, on very clear
days, from the top of the various city hills, the mountains of
Dalmatia beyond the Adriatic; the phenomenon is possible for two
reasons: because the promontory on which the city stands pushes
eastwards, the distance between the Italian coast and the other
shore decreases and also because the height of the hills widens the
radius of the horizon. It usually happens a few dozen times a year,
especially at dawn.
The city has several beaches, both high
and low coast. Among those of the first type, the most central is
that of the Passetto, with large white rocks, including the Seggiola
del Papa (one of the symbols of the city) and the Rock of the
Quadrato. Other rocky beaches, reachable by impervious paths, follow
one another towards the south; among them we must remember the long
free beach of Mezzavalle. The most famous beach south of Ancona is
Portonovo, located under Monte Conero, with typical white and
rounded stones, home to tourist facilities. North of the port the
coast is low; in this area it is worth mentioning the well-equipped
beach of Palombina, sandy, of urban character and with a lively
popular air, with a view of the Doric Gulf and bordered by the
railway line.
From the orographic point of view, the urban
area is characterized by an alternation of hilly strips and some
valleys. The northernmost strip of hills, directly overlooking the
sea, includes the Guasco hill, the Capuchin hill and finally Monte
Cardeto. Further south is the valley once called Piana degli Orti,
crossed by the three main courses and by Viale della Vittoria. Then
there is the second hilly strip, with the Astagno hill, the Santo
Stefano hill, Mount Pulito, Mount Pelago and finally Mount Santa
Margherita. The valley that is still to the south consists of the
Miano valley and the San Lazzaro plain, occupied by the homonymous
district, the only flat in the city. To the south of this valley
extends the belt of peripheral hills; the last urbanized areas
occupy the valley of the Baraccola Plans.
The place where
Ancona is located falls within the medium-high seismic area, it is
classified as level 2 by the Civil Protection.
The particular shape of the promontory gives rise to two natural
phenomena which have always been considered distinctive features of
Ancona: the sun rising and setting over the sea and the visibility, in
clear weather, of the peaks of the Dalmatian mountains.
The
possibility of seeing both the sunrise and the sunset over the sea is
due to the fact that the city promontory is bathed by the Adriatic both
to the east and to the west. This is considered special because while
watching the sun rise over the sea is typical of the entire western
Adriatic coast, this is not the case for sunset.
The phenomenon
is visible in its entirety for about a month, between the summer
solstice, when the sun sets directly on the marine horizon; in other
periods the sun sets behind a thin strip of land.
Occasionally,
on very clear days, from some points on the tops of the various city
hills, it is possible to observe with the naked eye the highest peaks of
the Dinaric Alps, beyond the Adriatic.
According to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification, Ancona belongs
to the climate zone Csa (Mediterranean climate).
Winters are
moderately cold and rainy: daytime temperatures reach an average of 9.3
°C and the night-time minimum is 4 °C; snowfalls are possible in case of
icy outbreaks that invest Italy from the northern or eastern quadrants;
the coldest month is January, with an average of 6 °C. In spring, the
average daytime temperature is 16.3 °C and the minimum nighttime
temperature is 10.7 °C. Summers are hot and dry, with an average daytime
temperature of 26°C and a nighttime low of 19.3°C. In autumn, the
daytime average is 18.7 °C and the nighttime minimum is 14 °C. The
rainiest months are October (98 mm) and January (66 mm).
The
amount of sunshine is good, with 2,135 hours of sunshine per year. The
maximum sea temperature is in August (23.5 °C) and the minimum in
February (10 °C).
The characteristic winds are the Bora from the
N/E, which sometimes blows violently and is capable of causing intense
sea storms, the Scirocco, from the S/E, humid and often rainy (sultry in
summer) and the Garbino, from W–S/W, downwind wind from the Apennines
that blows more frequently in autumn and spring.
There are two
meteorological stations: that of Falconara and that of Monte Pulito.
The Greeks of Syracuse, who founded the city in 387 BC, noticed the
particular shape of the promontory, similar to a triangle or a bent
elbow, and for this reason they called the new city Ἀγκών, Ankón, which
in Greek means "elbow"
Derived toponyms
As was the case for
other Italian cities (such as Rome, Venice, Syracuse, Cagliari, Naples,
Padua, etc.) the name of Ancona was also used to refer to newly founded
cities on the various continents. Thus we have a North American Ancona
in the United States (in the State of Illinois), a South American in
Bolivia (in the department of Potosí) and an Oceanian Ancona in
Australia (in the State of Victoria).
The city of Ancona is
called Ancône in French, Ankona in Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian,
Albanian, Azerbaijani and Turkish, Jakin in ancient Croatian, Ἀγκών
(Ankón) in ancient Greek and Ανκόνα (Ankona) in modern Greek; in Latin
it is called Ancon or Ancona. In languages that use the Cyrillic
alphabet it becomes Анкона (Ankona) instead.
Four Croatian
localities derive their name from the Old Croatian name of Ancona,
Jakin. They are: the bay of Jakišnica on the island of Pag, the bay of
Jakinska and the promontory of Jakisnica on the island of Melada and
finally the locality of Jakin on the island of Brazza; in the past they
were in fact very popular with sailors from Ancona. A well-known Bosnian
folk song also mentions a young Jakinlija and Jakinke girls.
The promontory of Ancona was already inhabited in the Bronze Age. Its
inhabitants soon came into contact with the Mycenaean navigators, who
frequented the natural harbor below.
In the final period of the
Bronze Age, a village of Proto-Villanovan culture existed on the
Capuchin hill, which then continued to develop until the Iron Age,
becoming a Piceno village. Its port was frequented by Greek navigators,
which made it a real Greek-Piceno maritime emporium. The center
consisted of warehouses, port structures and a series of buildings
inhabited by Greeks who preserved their traditions and, despite not
having territorial sovereignty, lived in full autonomy. The native
inhabitants, for their part, acted as an intermediary between the Greeks
and the markets of the hinterland, where in fact Greek artifacts are
found.
Greek period
The definitive Greekisation dates back to the 4th
century BC. Indeed, it was in 387 BC that a group of Greeks from
Syracuse, exiled from the tyranny of Dionysius I, landed in Ancona and
founded their own colony there. The foundation of Ancona was part of
Dionysius I's plan to expand Syracusan influence in the Adriatic, and
was accompanied by the establishment of other Greek colonies on the
eastern shore of this sea.
According to most historians, the
Greek colony was built on the slopes of the hill now called Guasco; on
the top of the hill rose the acropolis, with the temple of Aphrodite.
Since the Syracusan founders of the city were Greeks of Doric lineage,
Ancona has been called "the Doric city" since ancient times. One of the
most important characteristics of this polis is its persistent
attachment to the Greek character and its cultural resistance to
romanization.
Roman period
Upon the arrival of the Romans in
Piceno, Ancona went through a period of transition between the Greek and
Roman civilizations. The main stages of Romanization are two: 133 BC,
when there was the deduction of a Roman colony in the countryside of
Ancona following the Lex Sempronia Agraria, and 90 BC. when the Roman
municipality was established following the Social War. Since that year,
Ancona can be called a Roman city, even though it remained a Greek
linguistic and cultural island for a few decades. In the imperial age it
performed the function of maritime connection with the East for Rome and
for this reason the emperor Trajan enlarged the port.
When the Western Roman Empire fell, Ancona followed the fate of the
rest of Italy. After the Gothic war it entered the possessions of the
Byzantine Empire, forming together with four other cities the maritime
Pentapolis. In 774 the city passed to the Papal State. With the
establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, the city was placed at the head
of the Marca di Ancona, which after having absorbed the marches of
Camerino and Fermo, included almost all of today's Marche region.
One of Ancona's most flourishing periods began in the 11th century,
when it began to stand as a free municipality and maritime republic, the
Republic of Ancona. To defend its independence it clashed both with the
Holy Roman Empire, which repeatedly attempted to re-establish its
effective power, and with Venice, which did not accept other maritime
cities in the Adriatic. In the siege of 1173 by the imperial troops, the
deeds of Stamira, the Ancona heroine par excellence, and of the priest
Giovanni di Chio stood out. This siege ended in favor of the Ancona
defenders: an expedition managed to warn the allies, who came to the aid
of the already exhausted city, forcing the imperial army to retreat.
Prominent figure of the period of the republic of Ancona was Ciriaco
Pizzecolli (known as Ciriaco d'Ancona), humanist, archaeologist and
navigator, who traveled throughout the Mediterranean in search of
historical testimonies, in an attempt to save them from oblivion and
destruction; for this activity he was called pater antiquitatis by his
contemporaries and is today considered the founder of archeology in a
general sense.
Following the fall of Constantinople and the discovery of America, a
period of recession began for all Italian seaside cities, including
Ancona, which reached its peak in the 17th century.
However, in
the early 1500s, Ancona was still thriving. This aroused the greed of
Pope Clement VII, who, anxious to replenish the Vatican coffers, empty
after the Sack of Rome in 1527, decided to take possession of the city,
with a clever plan. The first step was the construction of the Citadel,
offered by the pope to the city under the pretext of providing defense
against an imminent attack by the Turks, but in reality built to keep
Ancona strictly under papal dominion: the cannons of the new fortress
were aimed at the city and its main access roads. Thanks to this
stratagem, with a coup d'état, on 19 September 1532 Pope Clement VII
bound Ancona to the Holy See and ceded the government of the city to
Cardinal Benedetto Accolti in exchange for a large sum of annual income,
appointing him papal legate of the March of Ancona; Accolti's government
was marked by violence and persecutions.
Upon the death of
Clement VII, the new Pope Paul III Farnese ordered the imprisonment of
Cardinal Accolti, the recognition of the innocence of the five Ancona
nobles summarily executed by him and the return to the city of the
exiles; he also restored some autonomy to the Senate of Ancona. Despite
this, the reality was that the city was no longer free to
self-determinate, remaining under the strict control of the papal
legates.
The loss of freedom led from the second half of the
sixteenth century to a slow decline, which lasted over a century and
which was interrupted only in 1732, when Pope Clement XII granted the
free port, or the exemption from customs duties. In addition to giving
the city this new status, Clement XII commissioned the architect Luigi
Vanvitelli to restore and expand the port. Thanks to these measures, the
city experienced a new moment of well-being, linked to the resumption of
great navigation.
In 1797 Napoleon occupied the city and shortly after the Republic of
Ancona was proclaimed, which in 1798 was annexed to the Roman Republic.
After ups and downs and sieges that saw it pass into French and Austrian
hands, it was annexed in 1808 to the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, within
the Department of Metauro. In 1815 it was besieged by the Anglo-Austrian
forces and, with the Restoration, in the same year, it returned to be
part of the Papal State.
The Renaissance
During the First War
of Independence, in 1849, Ancona declared itself free from papal rule
and joined the Roman Republic. The pope then called the Austrians to
take back possession of his lands. Companion of Venice and Rome, the
city of Ancona heroically resisted the Austrian siege for weeks, thanks
also to the volunteers from various regions of Italy. Antonio Elia from
Ancona distinguished himself in the fight, who was one of the most
strenuous defenders of the city and who, after the surrender of the
patriots and the Austrian occupation, was arrested on false accusations
and shot.
For the heroism and attachment to the ideals of freedom
and independence demonstrated in 1849 Ancona was awarded the gold medal
as "deserving of the national Risorgimento".
Accession to the
Kingdom of Italy
In 1860, after the defeat of Castelfidardo, the
papal troops took refuge in Ancona to attempt the last defense of the
papal domains. A difficult siege by Sardinian troops followed. On 29
September the troops of generals Enrico Cialdini and Manfredo Fanti
entered Ancona victorious, followed a few days later by King Vittorio
Emanuele II. On 4 November of the same year, a plebiscite made official
the entry of Ancona, Marche and Umbria into the Kingdom of Sardinia,
later the Kingdom of Italy.
In the decade between 1860 and 1870,
due to the national geopolitical situation, Ancona played a first-order
military role and was declared a first-class stronghold together with
only four other Italian cities; the new role was the basis of a notable
urban development and the introduction of all the public services that
progress made available in those years.
At the turn of the First World War, two different moments saw the
city on the national stage: in 1914 for Red Week and in 1920 for the
Bersaglieri Revolt, the culminating episode of the Red Biennium. In the
period of the First World War we remember the early naval bombardment of
Ancona and the enterprise of Premuda.
During the twenty years of
fascism, the city of Ancona underwent a remarkable urban development,
with the urbanization along the viale della Vittoria and the
construction of the Adriatic district.
In the last years of the
Second World War, due to its strategic importance, Ancona suffered
numerous bombings by the allied forces, which had to prepare the passage
of the front. In particular, that of 1 November 1943 was one of the most
tragic; in a few minutes thousands of people lost their lives, of which
seven hundred inside a single air-raid shelter, and an entire district
of the historic city (the Porto district) was almost obliterated.
Following the Battle of Ancona, on 18 July 1944 General Władysław
Anders liberated the city from the Nazis, at the head of the II Polish
Corps and together with the partisan formations and the Italian soldiers
of the C.I.L.. In recognition of the supportive behavior of the
population during the occupation German and the allied bombings, Ancona
was awarded the gold medal for civil valor.
After the Second
World War, Ancona recovered quickly from the serious wounds of the war;
by the way, 1959 saw the foundation of the University. Three serious
natural disasters then hit the city: a flood in 1959, an earthquake in
1972 and a landslide in the Posatora and Palombella districts in 1982.
Even on these disastrous occasions, the city's recovery was rapid.
Of note in recent decades are: the reopening of the Teatro delle
Muse (2002), the inauguration of the large Cardeto Park (2005) and the
notable intensification of port traffic in communications with Balkan
Europe and Greece. In 2008 the government chose Ancona as the seat of
the permanent Secretariat of the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative, in the
historic sixteenth-century Citadel.
In 2013 Ancona celebrated the
2400th anniversary of its foundation, counted from the date of the
foundation of the Greek colony.
For the correct reading of the data, it should be remembered that in
1928 the municipalities of Paterno, Montesicuro and Falconara Marittima
were merged into Ancona; the latter in 1948 returned to being
autonomous.
In the history of the demographic evolution of Ancona
we note the sharp decline that occurred in 1944 due to the displacement
of the population towards the cities and the neighboring countryside due
to the numerous bombings during the Second World War. Other causes of
population decline are the serious epidemic of the eighteenth century,
the earthquake of 1972 and, to a lesser extent, the landslide of 1982.
Ancona had its maximum population in 1971. Since then there has been
a slight decline, favored by the natural (difference between births and
deaths) and migratory (difference between immigrants and emigrants)
balances, both negative since 1979. After a minimum of 98 000
inhabitants, recorded in 1999, there was a progressive increase in the
population, thanks above all to the consistent migratory flow, which
brought the city back to over one hundred thousand units again, settling
at more than 102,000 inhabitants in the December 2008 registry survey.
Foreign ethnic groups and minorities
In past centuries
In
Ancona the phenomenon of the presence of foreign citizens in the city is
not new, as the existence of the port has always attracted large groups
of people from even distant countries, who often organized themselves
into actual communities.
The main ones over the centuries were:
the Jewish (with the two Levantine and Italian branches, each with its
own synagogue); Albanian; ragusea (it had its reference in the church of
San Biagio); the Greek (it had its reference in the church of Sant'Anna
dei Greci); the Armenian (whose church was Saint Gregory the
Illuminator). Even Muslims have always frequented the city, so much so
that in the medieval period they had been assigned some rooms in the
Town Hall.
The presence of various ethnic groups in the city is
also testified by the existence, after the Unification of Italy, of
three cemeteries: the Orthodox one (the Campo de' Greci, closed after
the Unification and no longer existing), the Protestant one (the Campo
degli Inglesi, which can still be visited), the Jewish one (the Campo
degli Ebrei).
The Jewish community
Among the various
communities, the Jewish one is the one that has left the most mark on
the history of the city and is still significant today. It is one of the
oldest and most significant Jewish communities in Italy. As evidence of
its history remain the ancient ghetto with the two synagogues and the
suggestive cemetery (one of the largest and oldest in Italy): the Campo
degli Ebrei.
In the 21st century
There are 13,848 foreign
citizens residing in Ancona (December 31, 2019). The largest national
communities are:
Romania 2 683
Bangladeshi 1 961
Albania 1 372
Peru 857
Philippines 734
Ukraine 582
Tunisian 567
Nigeria
399
China 383
Morocco 350
The local dialect, according to tradition, was born in the Porto
district, in a small square that no longer exists, called the Chioga, in
which three dialects were mixed: the local one of the purtulòti
(portolotti), port workers, that of the Levantine sailors (coming from
from the East) who settled in the city and that of the buranèli, i.e.
the families originating from the Venetian lagoon, who moved to Ancona
in search of fortune and devoted to fishing. Over time it has changed
and made it very unique by the influences due to the exchanges of the
port.
Ancona belongs to the middle Italian dialects, and has
Gallo-Italic and Venetian influences, so it is often considered
transitional between the central and Gallo-Italic dialects.
The
Ancona dialect is used in Ancona vernacular poetry, theater and popular
songs. The poet who made the city dialect a literary language was Duilio
Scandali, followed by many others, up to the contemporary Franco
Scataglini, whose language is not, however, the popular dialect, but the
one transfigured by poetry. For more than a century, numerous dialect
theater companies have followed one another, creating a good tradition
and the annual Varano dialect festival. Among the best known songs there
are: the "Inno del portoloto", "Erane tre surele", "Alba", "El
Carnevale".
Gallic linguistic island of Conero
The Ancona
fractions of Conero, ie Poggio and Massignano, together with Camerano,
form the area of the Gallic linguistic island of Conero. The dialects of
these centers are not variants of the Ancona dialect, but constitute a
Gallic nucleus, similar to that spoken north of the Esino. The verses
below give an example of the Poggio dialect.
«« Pett' al Mont'
d'Ancona rises 'el Poy bellu ch' par un flower' 'n the top of a scoy on
the flanks of the mont' s' rampigna and all you'll discover the
countryside
All the people who pass the arimira ch'achì par' who'
č' god' nature salt well from the marina and that of the mont' knows the
fields green and pine trees always planted »»
(Giuseppe Bartolucci,
from "Biagin cucal and other verses")
An ancient belief, attested since the sixteenth century, is that of
drinking the water from the Calamo Fountain (commonly called the
Thirteen Spouts) to ensure the return to the city.
Very singular
and evidence of a close relationship with the sea are the caves of the
Passetto, five hundred cavities excavated since the mid-nineteenth
century at the base of the cliff, to serve as a shelter for boats and a
summer support; the users, the "grottaroli", are gathered in three
associations.
Piacenza playing cards are traditionally used in
the city, and this is due to the fact that in the Papal State, of which
Ancona was part from 1532 to 1860, the city of Piacenza had the
exclusive right to manufacture cards.
Ancona is home to the following institutions of greater importance
than the provincial one.
Regional Council of the Marches.
Marche
Regional Council.
Marche Polytechnic University.
Institute of
Marine Sciences of the National Research Council
Peripheral
bodies of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities:
Archaeological Superintendency of the Marches,
Superintendency for
Environmental and Architectural Heritage of the Marches,
Archival
Superintendency of the Marches.
Peripheral bodies of the Ministry of
Justice:
Court of Ancona,
Juvenile Court of Ancona,
Court of
Appeal of Ancona,
Prison of Montacuto,
Juvenile prison of Ancona.
Peripheral bodies of the Ministry of the Interior:
Prefecture of
Ancona,
Ancona Police Headquarters,
Regional Directorate of
Firefighters, Public Rescue and Civil Defence.
Peripheral bodies of
the Ministry of Economy and Finance:
Ancona Customs Office,
Marche
Regional Directorate of the Revenue Agency,
Marche and Umbria
Regional Directorate of the Territorial Agency.
Permanent
Secretariat of the Adriatic Ionian Initiative, emanation of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs.
Regional Scholastic Office for the Marches,
peripheral office of the Ministry of Education, University and Research.
Directorate of posts for the Marches and Umbria, peripheral body of the
Ministry of Economic Development.
Marche Regional Directorate of
Trenitalia S.p.A.;
Metropolitan Archdiocese of Ancona-Osimo, part of
the ecclesiastical province of Ancona.
Healthcare in Ancona is mainly managed by the "University Hospital
Ospedali Riuniti", which includes the "Umberto I" hospital, the "G. M.
Lancisi" cardiologist and the "G. Salesi" children's hospital. The first
two are located in a single pole, in the Torrette district, while the
third is located on the Passetto. There is a strong collaboration with
the medical faculty of the Marche Polytechnic University.
There
are also the "U. Sestilli" geriatric hospital, the local branch of the
INRCA and the "Villa Igea" nursing home.