Ancona
CityIT |
img_coa = Ancona-Stemma.png|
city = Comune di Ancona|
region =
Marche | province =
Ancona (AN) |
altitude = 0 to 100 |
area_cityproper = 123|
population_as_of = November, 2005|
populationdensity = 101, 909|
populationdensitymetric = 816|
timezone =
CET,
UTC+1 |
coordinates = |
frazioni =|
telephone = 071|
postalcode = 60100|
gentilic = Anconitani, Anconetani|
saint = San Ciriaco|
day =
May 4 |
mayor = Fabio Sturani (since May 2006)|
website =
www.comune.ancona.it |}}
Ancona is a city and a seaport in the
Marche, a region of northeastern
Italy, population 101,909 (2005). Ancona is situated on the
Adriatic Sea and is the center of the
province of Ancona and the capital of the region.
The city is located 210 km northeast of
Rome and 200 km southeast of
Bologna.
The town is finely situated on and between the slopes of the two extremities of the promontory of
Monte Conero, Monte Astagno, occupied by the citadel, and Monte Guasco, on which the
Duomo stands (150 m). The latter, dedicated to St
Judas Cyriacus, is said to occupy the site of a temple of Venus, who is mentioned by
Catullus and
Juvenal as the
tutelary deity of the place.
Ancona was founded from
Syracuse about 390 BC, who gave it its name:
Ancona is a very slightly modified transliteration of the
Greek Αγκων, meaning "elbow"; the harbor to the east of the town was originally protected only by the promontory on the north, shaped like an elbow. Greek merchants established a
Tyrian purple factory here (Sil. Ital. viii. 438). In Roman times it kept its own coinage with the punning device of the bent arm holding a palm branch, and the head of
Aphrodite on the reverse, and continued the use of the
Greek language.
When it became a
Roman colony is doubtful. It was occupied as a naval station in the
Illyrian War of 178 BC (
Livy xli. i).
Julius Caesar took possession of it immediately after crossing the
Rubicon. Its harbour was of considerable importance in imperial times, as the nearest to
Dalmatia, and was enlarged by
Trajan, who constructed the north quay, his architect being
Apollodorus of Damascus. At the beginning of it stands the marble
triumphal arch with a single archway, and without
bas-reliefs, erected in his honour in 115 by the senate and people.
After the fall of the Roman empire, Ancona was successively attacked by the
Goths,
Lombards and
Saracens, but recovered its strength and importance. It was one of the cities of the
Pentapolis under the exarchate of
Ravenna[The other four were Fano, Pesaro, Senigallia and Rimini] and eventually became an important "Marine Republic". In 1532 it lost its freedom and became of the "Stato della Chiesa", under
Pope Clement VII.
Pope Clement XII prolonged the quay, and an inferior imitation of Trajan's arch was set up; he also erected a
Lazaretto at the south end of the harbor,
Luigi Vanvitelli being the architect-in-chief. The southern quay was built in 1880, and the harbour was protected by forts on the heights.
From 1797 onwards, when the French took it, it frequently appears in history as an important fortress, until
Christophe Léon Louis Juchault de Lamoricière capitulated here on
September 29 1860, eleven days after his defeat at
Castelfidardo.
|
The Cathedral of San Ciriaco. |
|
The portal of the church of San Francesco. |
Cathedral church of S. Ciriaco
The
Cathedral, entitled to
St. Ciriaco, was consecrated in 1128 and completed in 1189. Some writers suppose that the original church was in the form of a
Latin cross and belonged to the 8th century. An early restoration was completed in 1234. It is a fine
Romanesque building in grey stone, built in the form of a Greek cross, with a dodecagonal dome over the center slightly altered by Margaritone d'Arezzo in 1270. The façade has a Gothic portal, ascribed to
Giorgio da Como (1228), which was intended to have a lateral arch on each side.
The interior, which has a crypt under each transept, in the main preserves its original character. It has ten columns which are attributed to the temple of Venus, and there are good screens of the 12th century, and other sculptures. The church was carefully restored in the 1980s.
Other monuments
*The marble
Arch of Trajan, 18 m high, was erected in 114/115 as an entrance to the causeway atop the harbor wall in honor of the emperor who had made the harbor, is one of the finest Roman monuments in the Marche. Most of its original bronze enrichments have disappeared. It stands on a high podium approached by a wide flight of steps. The archway, only 3 m wide, is flanked by pairs of fluted
Corinthian columns on pedestals. An attic bears inscriptions. The format is that of the
Arch of Titus in Rome, but made taller, so that the bronze figures surmounting it, of Trajan, his wife Plotina and sister Marciana, would figure as a landmark for ships approaching Rome's greatest Adriatic port.
*The
Lazzaretto (
Laemocomium or "Mole Vanvitelliana"), planned by architect
Luigi Vanvitelli in 1732 is a pentagonal building covering more than 20,000 m², built to protect the military defensive authorities from the risk of contagious diseases eventually reaching the town with the ships. Later it was used also as a military hospital or as barracks; it is currently used for cultural exhibits.
*The
Episcopal Palace was the place where
Pope Pius II died in 1464.
*The church of
Santa Maria della Piazza has an elaborate arcaded façade (1210).
*The
Palazzo del Comune, with its lofty arched substructures at the back, was the work of Margaritone d'Arezzo, but has been since twice restored.
There are also several fine late
Gothic buildings, including the churches of
S. Francesco and
S. Agostino, the
Palazzo Benincasa, the
Palazzo del Senato and the
Loggia dei Mercanti, all by
Giorgio Orsini, usually called da Sebenico (who worked much at
Sebenico, though he was not a native of it), and the
prefecture, which has
Renaissance additions.
The portal of
S. Maria della Misericordia is an ornate example of early Renaissance work.
The archaeological museum contains interesting pre-Roman (
Picene) objects from tombs in the district, and two Roman beds with fine decorations in ivory.
* -
Ribnica,
Slovenia*
External links
*
Official Site*
Marche Tourism site*
Bill Thayer's site*
ItalianVisits.com*
Ancona, a breed of chicken named after the Italian city*
Site with photo, guides and forum
