Ancona

Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche, a region of northeastern Italy, population 100,507 (2001). Ancona is situated on the Adriatic Sea and is the center of an eponymous province and the capital of the region.

Ancona sights

Cathedral church of S. Ciriaco

The cathedral 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 Corno (1228), which was intended to have a lateral arch on each side.

Related Topics:
1128 - 1189 - Latin cross - 8th century - 1234 - Romanesque - 1270 - Giorgio da Corno - 1228

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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 beautifully restored in the 1980s.

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Other monuments

The marble Arch of Trajan, 61 feet high, erected in 114/115 CE 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 10 ft 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.

Related Topics:
Corinthian columns - Arch of Titus

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• The Arch of Trajan

The Lazzaretto (Laemocomium or "Mole Vanvitelliana"), planned by architect Luigi Vanvitelli in 1732. It is a pentagonal building covering more than 20,000 sq.m., 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.

Related Topics:
Luigi Vanvitelli - 1732

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In the dilapidated episcopal palace Pope Pius II died in 1464. An interesting church is S. Maria della Piazza, with 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.

Related Topics:
Pope Pius II - 1464 - 1210

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There are also several fine late Gothic buildings, among them 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.

Related Topics:
Gothic - Prefecture - Renaissance

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The portal of S. Maria della Misericordia is an ornate example of early Renaissance work.

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The archaeological museum contains interesting pre-Roman (Picene) objects from tombs in the district, and two Roman beds with fine decorations in ivory.

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