Why Ancona?
Ancona is situated on the Adriatic coast in the central part of Italy in the region called Le Marche. Its tourist and commercial harbor is one of the largest in the Adriatic. The town was founded by the Dorians in 387 A.C. They named the town after the shape of the gulf: Αγκων (Ankon), which in ancient Geek means elbow. The town has ancient ruins dating back to the Greek, Roman and Medieval periods.
From the top of a hill, right in the heart of the medieval and eighteenth century town, San Ciriaco cathedral overlooks the harbor and the U-shaped gulf, offering a spectacular view of the coastline and the surrounding hills.
In the nearby surroundings, Portonovo beach and nature reserve, as well as the towns of Loreto, Osimo, Recanati, Jesi and Senigallia are the major attractions for those who enjoy sightseeing, beaches, trekking, wine cellar tours (to discover Lacrima di Morrovalle, Verdicchio di Jesi and Rosso Conero to cite but the three most famous wines).
Official Marche Region website
Must see in Ancona:
The marble Arch of Trajan, 18 m high, 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 Loggia dei Mercanti (Italian: "Loggia of the Traders") is a historical palace begun in 1442 by architect Giovanni Pace, also known as Sodo, in an economically flourishing period for Ancona. It was built near the port, which was the trade point of the mercantile republic in medieval times, in order to provide a meeting point for the traders. The building was restored in 1558-1561 after a fire, under the direction of Pellegrino Tibaldi, who also frescoed the central hall.
The current façade was designed by the Dalmatian architect Giorgio da Sebenico, who worked to it in 1451 to 1459. It is divided into four vertical sections, topped by a pinnacle. Each one has a statue, representing (from left), Hope, Fortitude, Justice and Charity. The two side sections have two stained glass, ogival windows. In the upper sectors are blind double mullioned windows and, in the centre, is an equestrian statue of the Roman emperor Trajan.
The Loggia was damaged by the Allied bombings during World War II, and was restored in the late 20th century.
The Roman amphitheatre is situated on the natural basin between Colle Guasco and Colle Cappuccini.
It reveals two different stages of construction, the first dates to the Augustan Era (late first century B.C., beginning of the first century A.D.). Built on an elliptical floor plan, with axes measuring 97x74 metres, it could seat roughly 8000 spectators.
The digs, which have been regularly carried out since 1975, have clearly revealed a section of the external perimeter walls and the two entrances opposite, located out of axis in order to follow the lie of the land: the main entrance, or Porta Pompae, was built in blocks of sandstone, bricks and quoins in ‘opus reticulatum’ (or reticulated work) and the Porta Libitinensis, which was designed for the evacuation of the dead and wounded. The arena, which measures 53x35 metres, held performances, while the cavea, or the semicircular tiered seating, of which some side corridors and steps remain, was used for seating the audience protected by a podium. On the outside, in the vicinity of the Porta Pompae, we can see the remains of thermal baths and a section of city street dating to the Hellenistic era (third to second century B.C.).
The amphitheatre remained standing for a long time and was only abandoned in the sixth century A.D. During the Medieval era the site of the arena was used for new buildings and the city lost all memory of its existence until 1810.
One of the most imposing sights of Ancona is Il Lazzaretto, also known as the Mole Vanvitelliana because it was designed by the architect Luigi Vanvitelli. This is a very large building, shaped like a pentagon, located in the port area of the city. It is a veritable self-sufficient island, connected to the “outside world” through a small catwalk-type structure; a small canal separates it from the “mainland”. The Lazzaretto occupies a surface area of about 20,000 square meters and can hold around 2000 people, as well as quite a bit of goods. The building has its own water supply, thanks to an underwater system of tanks.
Work on the Lazzaretto began in 1733 and terminated 10 years later; its original function was to protect public health by housing deposits and accommodations for goods and people that were subject to quarantine procedures or that reached the port from “insecure” destinations. Its function necessitated its separation from the city. Over the years, it was transformed into a defensive structure and a military hospital, then a sugar refinery and then a tobacco factory. Finally, in 1997 it began to be used for temporary exhibitions and other cultural events. In the inner part of the building, you can still see the rooms that were once dedicated to quarantine procedures, while rooms on the external part of the building were used to deposit goods.
Ancona's cathedral, overlooking the port from the oldest part of the city, is one of the finest examples of Romanesque architecture in the whole of Italy, blended with fascinating touches of eastern Mediterranean style.
It was built on the site of a 4th century BC temple to Aphrodites Euplea and a 6th century church dedicated to St Lawrence that was destroyed by earthquake and Saracen attacks in 847 / 848 - some remains of these are still visible beneath the present cathedral.
Construction of the present building began shortly afterwards, though the shape of the original church followed the line of the present transepts. Initially it was built as a private church for noble feudal families but was raised to the status of a cathedral at end of the 11th Century when the remains of the city's patron saint, St Judas Cyriacus, were brought here and buried in the crypt, together with those of St Marcellinus and St Liberius.
The building was modified to its present form in the first decades of the 13th Century, when the layout of the cathedral was transformed into a Greek Cross and the main axis rotated ninety degrees. The original church thus became the transept of the building and a new entrance, triple nave and apse were added. The effect of this new orientation, though dictated at least in part by the shape of the terrain on which it was built, was to enhance its splendour and also its visibility to foreign traders arriving at the port.
The clustered columns of the magnificent Gothic portal are decorated with animals and the heads of saints and are covered by a Verona marble porch way supported on columns resting on two lions.
The wide central nave is flanked by eighteen slim pillars with Byzantine or late Classical decorations and covered by a wooden Venetian ogival vaulted ceiling. The twelve-sided central dome was probably not completed until the 16 th Century.
The Chapel of the Madonna, in the north transept, contains a sumptuous Baroque altar by Luigi Vanvitelli, built in 1739.
The Monument to the fallen of World War I is located in Piazza IV Novembre, the district Passetto. It is commonly known as the Monument of the Passetto. It is located between the long avenue of Victory and the sea, which is connected by two wide staircases.