Find out Ancona
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Ancona , the capital of the Marche region, is a city with a thousand-year history rich in monuments and traditions. Located on the promontory of Mount Conero, Ancona directly overlooks the Adriatic Sea, where one of the major Italian ports is located. The city also offers a unique spectacle in Italy: in fact, on its beaches you can admire both sunrise and sunset! This happens thanks to the elbow shape of the city on the sea. In fact, the name Ancona derives from the Greek Ankòn, meaning elbow. It was nominated for the capital of culture in 2020 for its characteristic landscapes and for the numerous artistic and architectural works scattered throughout the territory. Ancona was also a source of inspiration for Lord George Byron, an English romantic poet, who in the nineteenth century embarked from the port of Ancona to reach the island of Corfu.
What see
Among the main monuments to see in Ancona we find the Cathedral of San Ciriaco , with the facade in white and pink marble, which dominates the city from the top of the Guasco hill, where the acropolis of the city stood and where some remains are still visible. Inside the cathedral is the Diocesan Museum , where various relics are kept including the body of San Ciriaco and a picture of the Madonna believed to be miraculous. Famous for its churches, Ancona is also home to Santa Maria della Piazza which is perhaps the most important church in Ancona. In the same place there was already an early Christian basilica, as evidenced by the splendid mosaics in the floor that can be admired through the glass plates. The current church, on the other hand, was built in about 1100 and has a particular structure: a transept of the same width was added to the original plan, raised above the rest of the building. A few steps from the church we find Piazza del Plebiscito, also called Piazza del Papa since it was dedicated to Pope Clement VII; it is the statue of him that makes a fine show of itself in the center of this singularly elongated square with the stairs of the Church of San Domenico on one side. The Piazza del Plebiscito is considered the beating heart of Ancona also for the presence of several bars and restaurants that offer the specialties of the Ancona tradition. Very famous then the Mole Vanvitelliana , also called Lazzaretto, which over the centuries performed numerous functions: its pentagonal walls were designed by Carlo Vanvitelli on behalf of Pope Clement XII with the aim of making it a warehouse for goods arriving in the port, a structure to defend the city and, above all, a hospital for the sick. It was built on an artificial island of about 20,000 square meters which could only be accessed by sea, until the construction of a bridge in 1800. Inside it is organized like a small city, with the square in the center and a neo-classical temple dedicated to St. Rocco, protector of the plague victims; it is also an ingenious system of underground cisterns that fed the citadel. Today, however, the Mole is above all a place of cultural events and demonstrations. Ancona also offers an excellent observation point of the Adriatic: the Passetto, a district of Ancona with a green park in an extraordinary panoramic position overlooking the city sea and the Conero. At the center of the structure there is also a small monument dedicated to the fallen of the First World War, built in 1930. From there, through an elevator or a stone staircase, you can easily reach the sea; the area is equipped with swimming pools, bathing establishments, skating rinks and many other attractions suitable for all ages.
History
The city of Ancona has more than 2400 years of history. The first settlements of the city arose in the Bronze Age and, later, in the Iron Age, Ancona was a Piceno village. The city was born in 387 a. C. by a group of Syracusan Greeks who founded a colony at the foot of the Guasco hill, to which they gave the name of Ankòn. From 90 to. C., with the arrival of the Lex Sempronia Agraria, Ancona will become the main maritime connection of Rome with the East, while always remaining strongly linked to ancient Greek traditions. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the city was subject to the dominion of Odoacer, Ostrogoth and finally it was counted among the possessions of the Byzantine Empire. 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 March of Ancona, which, after having absorbed the Marches of Camerino and Fermo, included almost all of today's Marche region. At the end of the twelfth century Ancona began to stand as a free municipality and a maritime republic, and clashed for its independence with both the Holy Roman Empire and Venice. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, due to the discovery of America and the fall of Constantinople into the hands of the Turks, the center of trade began to move from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and for all the Italian maritime cities, including Ancona, a period of recession that reached its peak in the 17th century. In 1797 Napoleon occupied the city and after a while the Anconitana Republic was proclaimed, which in 1798 was annexed to the Roman Republic. After alternating events and sieges that saw it pass into French and Austrian hands, it was annexed in 1808 to the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. With the Restoration, in 1815, it returned to be part of the Papal State. The Ancona patriots participated in the uprisings of 1831 which were repressed with trials and convictions. During the First War of Independence, in 1849, Ancona declared itself free from papal rule and joined the Roman Republic. In 1860, after the defeat of Castelfidardo, the papal troops took refuge in Ancona to attempt the last defense of the papal territories. A difficult siege by Sardinian troops followed. On 29 September the troops of generals Enrico Cialdini and Manfredo Fanti entered Ancona victorious, followed after a few days by King Vittorio Emanuele II. On 4 November of the same year a plebiscite formalized the entry of Ancona, Marche and Umbria into the Kingdom of Sardinia, later the Kingdom of Italy. At the turn of the First World War, two different moments saw the city on the national limelight: in 1914 for the Red Week and in 1920 for the Revolt of the Bersaglieri, 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 actions of the Royal Navy in the Adriatic. During the Fascist period, the city of Ancona underwent a notable urban development, with the opening of the Viale della Vittoria and the construction of the Adriatic district. In the last years of the Second World War, however, Ancona, due to its strategic importance, underwent numerous bombings by the allied forces, which had to prepare the passage of the front. In particular, that of November 1, 1943 was one of the most tragic; in a few minutes thousands of people lost their lives, of which seven hundred in a single makeshift refuge, and an entire district of the historic city (Porto district) was almost canceled. Following the Battle of Ancona, on 18 July 1944 General Władysław Anders at the head of the Polish II Corps entered Ancona, together with the partisan formations and the Italian soldiers of the C.I.L., freeing it from the Germans. In recent years there is the foundation of the University in 1959 and in 2013 Ancona the celebration of its 2400 years of history, counted from the presumed foundation date of the Greek colony.
