Ancona

Ancona (, <small>also</small> ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy. The city of Ancona has an estimated population of around 99,469 . Ancona is the capital of the homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic Sea, between the slopes of the two extremities of the promontory of Monte Conero, Monte Astagno, and Monte Guasco. The hilly nature around Ancona is a strong contrast to the flatter coastline in areas further north.

Ancona is one of the main ports on the Adriatic Sea, especially for passenger traffic, and is the main economic and demographic centre of the region.

As a result of Ancona's unique elbow shape facing the sea, Ancona is one of the few cities in the world and the only city in Italy where it is possible to see both sunrise and sunset over the sea.

History

thumb|Model of the Temple of Aphrodite, on the acropolis of Ankón

left|thumb|Greek coin of Ankón

Greek colony

Before the Greek colonization, the territory was occupied by separated communities of the Picentes tribes.

Ancona took a more urban shape by Greek settlers from Syracuse in about 387 BC, who gave it its name: Ankṓn, then Ancona. This toponym stems from the Ancient Greek word (ankṓn), meaning "elbow" or "bend"; the harbour 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 dye factory here.

The acropolis, with the temple of Aphrodite, was located on the top of the Guasco hill, on the site where the Ancona Cathedral stands today. Another temple, dedicated to Diomedes, stood on the seashore, at the end of the city's promontory. Diomedes was considered the mythical oikistes of the colony.

Ankón had its own coinage with the punning device of the bent arm holding a myrtle sprig and the Gemini constellation, reference to the Dioscuri, protectors of sailors. On the reverse was the head of Aphrodite, goddess of good navigation.

Ancona is still called the "Doric city" and the inhabitants are referred to as "Dorici", because it was a colony of Syracuse, which in turn was a colony founded by the Dorians of Corinth.

Roman municipium

thumb|[[Arch of Trajan (Ancona)|Arch of Trajan]]

thumb|Ancona and the [[Arch of Trajan (Ancona)|Arch of Trajan depicted in Trajan's Column in Rome.]]

In Roman times Ankón continued the use of the Greek language and kept its own coinage for about a century. 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 with his architect Apollodorus of Damascus. At the beginning of it stands the marble triumphal arch, the Arch of Trajan with a single archway, and without bas-reliefs, erected in his honour in 115 by the Senate and Roman people., In 840, Saracen raiders sacked and burned the city. After Charlemagne's conquest of northern Italy, it became the capital of the Marca di Ancona, whence the name of the modern region derives.

Maritime Republic of Ancona

thumb|Borders and castles of the Republic of Ancona in the 15th century

thumb|left|[[Cathedral of Ancona (12nd century)]]

thumb|Trade routes and warehouses of the maritime republic of Ancona

thumb|upright|left|The portal of the church of [[San Francesco alle Scale (1454)]]

After 1000, Ancona became increasingly independent, eventually turning into an important maritime republic (together with Gaeta and Ragusa, it is one of those not appearing on the Italian naval flag), often clashing against the nearby power of Venice. An oligarchic republic, Ancona was ruled by six Elders, elected by the three terzieri into which the city was divided: S. Pietro, Porto and Capodimonte. It had a coin of its own, the agontano, and a series of laws known as Statuti del mare e del Terzenale and Statuti della Dogana. Ancona was usually allied with the Republic of Ragusa and the Byzantine Empire.

In 1137, 1167, and 1174 it was strong enough to push back the forces of the Holy Roman Empire. Anconitan ships took part in the Crusades, and their navigators included Cyriac of Ancona. In the struggle between the Popes and the Holy Roman Emperors that troubled Northern and central Italy from the 12th century onwards, Ancona sided with the Popes (Guelphs).

Unlike other cities of northern Italy, Ancona never became a signoria. The sole exception was the rule of the Malatesta, who took the city in 1348, taking advantage of the black death and of a fire that had destroyed many of the city's important buildings. The Malatesta were ousted in 1383. In 1532, Ancona definitively lost its freedom and became part of the Papal States, under Pope Clement VII. The symbol of the new papal authority was the massive Citadel.

In the Papal States

thumb|Vanvitelli's [[Lazzaretto of Ancona|Lazzaretto]]

Pope Pius IV commanded the execution and burning of Converso merchants in Ancona for returning to Judaism. Later, Ancona, along with Rome and Avignon in southern France, was one of the three cities in the Papal States where Jews were permitted to remain after Pope Pius V ordered their banishment in 1569. They lived in the ghetto that had been established in Ancona in 1556.

From the Reformation to the Napoleonic invasions, the city was effectively governed by a civic nobility, an urban patriciate that enjoyed broad jurisdictional autonomy over local justice and administration.

In 1733, Pope Clement XII extended the quay, and an inferior imitation of Trajan's arch was set up; he also erected the Lazzaretto of Ancona at the south end of the harbour, 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.

In 1832, French Expedition to Ancona occupied the city, remaining until 1838 when they and the Austrians in Bologna mutually agreed to withdraw.

The Greek community of Ancona

Ancona, as well as Venice, became a very important destination for merchants from the Ottoman Empire during the 16th century. The Greeks formed the largest of the communities of foreign merchants. They were refugees from former Byzantine or Venetian territories that were occupied by the Ottomans in the late 15th and 16th centuries. The first Greek community was established in Ancona early in the 16th century.

Contemporary history

Ancona entered the Kingdom of Italy when Christophe Léon Louis Juchault de Lamoricière surrendered here on 29 September 1860 following a brief siege, eleven days after his defeat at Castelfidardo. Ancona was one of the most important Italian ports on the Adriatic Sea during the Great War.

During World War II, the city was taken by the Polish 2nd Corps against Nazi German forces, as Free Polish forces were serving as part of the British Army. Poles were tasked with capture of the city on 16 June 1944 and accomplished the task a month later on 18 July 1944 in what is known as the battle of Ancona. The attack was part of an Allied operation to gain access to a seaport closer to the Gothic Line in order to shorten their lines of communication for the advance into northern Italy.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of Great Britain visited Ancona in May 1961 as part of their tour of Italy.

Jewish history

Jews according to documents began living in Ancona in 967 AD, even though there is evidence they lived there even before. It has been claimed that in 1270, a Jewish resident of Ancona, Jacob of Ancona, travelled to China, four years before Marco Polo, and documented his impressions in a book called "The City of Lights". From 1300 and on, the Jewish community of Ancona grew steadily, most due to the city importance and it being a center of trade with the Levant. Public opinion did not approve of these restrictions, and they were cancelled a short while after.

The Jews of Ancona received full emancipation in 1848 with the election of Pope Pius IX. In 1938, 1177 lived in Ancona;

Demographics

In 2007, there were 101,480 people residing in Ancona (the greater area has a population more than four times its size), located in the province of Ancona, Marches, of whom 47.6% were male and 52.4% were female. Minors (children ages 18 and younger) totalled 15.54 percent of the population compared to pensioners who number 24.06 percent. This compares with the Italian average of 18.06 percent (minors) and 19.94 percent (pensioners). The average age of Ancona residents is 48, compared to the Italian average of 42. In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Ancona grew by 1.48 percent, while Italy as a whole grew by 3.56 percent. The current birth rate of Ancona is 8.14 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.45 births.

, 92.77% of the population was Italian. The largest immigrant group came from other European nations (particularly those from Albania, Romania and Ukraine): 3.14%, followed by the Americas: 0.93%, East Asia: 0.83%, and North Africa: 0.80%.

Government

Main sights

Ancona Cathedral

thumb|A cannon situated near the Arch of Trajan, with the [[Ancona Cathedral in the background]]

thumb|Renaissance Gothic door of the church of Sant'Agostino

Ancona Cathedral, dedicated to Judas Cyriacus, was consecrated at the beginning of the 11th century and completed in 1189. Some writers suppose that the original church was in the form of a basilica and belonged to the 7th 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, and other elements of Byzantine art. It has a dodecagonal dome over the centre 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.

Enzo Matteucci (1933–1992), football coach and player
Giovanni Mingazzini (1859–1929), neurologist
Angelo Minghetti (1822–1885), ceramist
Roberto Molinelli (born 1963), musician
Emanuele Naspetti (born 1968), racing driver
Carlo Nembrini (1611–1677), Bishop of Parma
Vittoria Nenni (1915–1943), anti-fascist activist
Alessio Nepi (born 2000), footballer
Ave Ninchi (1914–1997), actress
Francesco Maria Nocchieri, sculptor
Gastone Novelli (1895–1919), World War I flying ace
Luigi Olivi (1894–1917), World War I flying ace
Marco Osio (born 1966), football manager and former player
Alessandro Pajola (born 1999), basketballer
Samuele Papi (born 1973), volleyballer
Daniele Paponi (born 1988), footballer
Antonio Francesco Peruzzini (1643 or 1646–1724), painter
Giovanni Peruzzini (1629–1694), painter
Emanuele Pesaresi (born 1976), footballer
Maria Petraccini (1759–1791), anatomist, physician
Matteo Piccione (1615 – 1671), painter
Gastone Pierini (1899–1967), weightlifter
Massimo Piloni (born 1948), football coach and former player
Laura Pisati (1869/1870–1908), mathematician
Francesco Podesti (1800–1895), painter
Achille Polonara (born 1991), basketballer
Antonio Ricci (c.1565–c.1635), Spanish Baroque painter
Emma Gaggiotti Richards (1825 – 1912), painter
Lorenzo Salvi (1810–1879), operatic tenor
Emilio Savonanzi (1580 – 1666), painter
Benvenutus Scotivoli (died 1282), Bishop of Osimo
Agostina Segatori (1841–1910), model
Rossella Franchini Sherifis (born 1953), diplomat
Cristian Shpendi (born 2003), Albanian footballer
Stiven Shpendi (born 2003), Albanian footballer
Daniele Silvetti (born 1973), politician and current mayor of Ancona
Prince Annibale Simonetti, Roman nobleman
Carlo Smuraglia (1923–2022), politician
Annamaria Solazzi (born 1965), beach volleyballer
Umberto Spadaro (1904–1981), actor
Anna Rita Sparaciari (born 1959), fencer
Stamira (died 1173), heroic self-sacrificing woman who saved the city of Ancona during the 1173 siege
Giuseppe Sturani (1855–1940), conductor
Marco Tamberi (born 1958), high jumper
Paul Tana (born 1947), Italian-Canadian film director and screenwriter
Tommaso Tentoni (born 1997), footballer
Daniel Terni (1760s–1814), rabbi
Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527–1596), mannerist architect, sculptor, and mural painter
Ariel Toaff (born 1942), historian
Giove Toppi (1888–1942), cartoonist
Rosanna Vaudetti (born 1937), television host
Vito Volterra (1860–1940), mathematician
Eduard von Böhm-Ermolli (1856–1941), Austrian general during World War I
Renato Zaccarelli (born 1951), football manager and former player
Filippo Zappata (1894–1994), engineer
Bruno Zauli (1902–1963), president of the Italian Athletics Federation
Luigi Zenobi (1547/48–after 1602), virtuoso cornett player
Cvijeta Zuzorić (1552–1648), lyric poet from the Republic of Ragusa

Transportation

Shipping

The Port has regular ferry links to the following cities with the following operators:

Adria Ferries (Durrës)
Jadrolinija (Split, Zadar)
SNAV (Split) (seasonal)
Superfast Ferries (Igoumenitsa, Patras)
ANEK Lines (Igoumenitsa, Patras)
Minoan Lines (Igoumenitsa, Patras)
Marmara Lines (Çeşme)

Airport

Ancona is served by Ancona Airport (IATA: AOI, ICAO: LIPY), in Falconara Marittima and named after Raffaello Sanzio.

European Coastal Airlines, a former seaplane operator from Croatia, established trans-Adriatic flights between Croatia and Italy in November 2015, and offered four weekly flights from Ancona Falconara Airport to Split (59 minutes) and Rijeka (49 minutes).

Railways

The Ancona railway station is the main railway station of the city and is served by regional and long-distance trains. The other stations are Ancona Marittima, Ancona Torrette, Ancona Stadio, Palombina and Varano.

Roads

The A14 motorway serves the city with the exits "Ancona Nord" (An. North) and "Ancona Sud" (An. South).

Urban public transportation

The Ancona trolleybus system has been in operation since 1949. Ancona is also served by an urban and suburban bus network operated by Conerobus.

Twin towns – sister cities

Ancona is twinned with:

Çeşme, Turkey
Galați, Romania
Split, Croatia
Zadar, Croatia
Granby, Canada
Svolvær, Norway