Ancona

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Ancona
coat of arms
Ancona (Italy)
Ancona
Country Italy
region Brands
province Ancona  (AN)
Coordinates 43 ° 37 '  N , 13 ° 31'  E Coordinates: 43 ° 37 '0 "  N , 13 ° 31' 0"  E
height 16  m slm
surface 123 km²
Residents 100,282 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density 815 inhabitants / km²
Post Code 60100
prefix 071
ISTAT number 042002
Popular name Anconetani, Anconitani
Patron saint San Ciriaco
Website Ancona
AnkonPanorama.jpg

Ancona is a port city with 100,282 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019) on the Italian Adriatic coast . It is the capital of the Marche region and the province of Ancona . The name comes from the Greek and means elbow . Ancona is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Ancona-Osimo .

geography

Ancona is about 210 kilometers northeast of Rome and about 200 kilometers southeast of Bologna . The city is located between the mountain ranges of Monte Conero , Monte Astagno, on which the citadel of the city is located, and Monte Guasco, on which the St. Cyriacus consecrated cathedral of Ancona is.

In addition to Bari and Venice, the port of Ancona has one of the most important ferry ports across the Adriatic Sea with busy connections to the Greek cities of Igoumenitsa and Patras . The international airport Aeroporto delle Marche is twelve kilometers west of Ancona .

history

Antiquity

Ancona was founded in 387 BC. Chr. By Greek colonists from Syracuse founded, which from the tyranny of Dionysius had fled. The city's founders gave the city the nickname Doric city .

When Ancona became a Roman colony is a matter of dispute. The port was occupied in the Third Illyrian War (178 BC) (Liv. Xli. I). Julius Caesar conquered it shortly after crossing the Rubicon . The port has always been of great importance because it represented the shortest sea connection to Dalmatia . Emperor Trajan enlarged the port and built the northern quay . The architect commissioned by him was Apollodorus of Damascus . At the very beginning of the quay, on a high podium, there is the outstanding arch of honor with a simple opening and without relief. It was nominally erected in honor of Trajan in 115 by the Senate and the people of Rome, but in reality with the noticeable participation of the emperor: The building inscription states that Traian had the port expanded from his own funds in order to facilitate access to Italy for seafarers.

Middle Ages and Early Modern Times

Ancona around 1572
Bolognino of the medieval Republic of Ancona (15th century)

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Ancona was conquered and sacked by the Goths , Lombards and Saracens . However, it soon regained its former power and importance. Ancona belonged to the League of Cities of the Pentapolis under the leadership of Ravenna , the other four were Fano , Pesaro , Senigallia and Rimini . They became a maritime republic under the Pope's protectorate until Luigi Gonzaga took possession of Ancona for Pope Clement VII in 1532.

Pope Clement XII. extended the quay and placed a scaled-down imitation of the Trajan triumphal arch on it. At the southern end of the port, he had a hospital built by the architect Vanvitelli . With the exception of the French occupation Ancona belonged to the Risorgimento and the unification of Italy to the Papal States .

The Jewish community in Ancona

1553 granted Pope Julius III. a group of 100 Marranos who fled the Spanish Inquisition took refuge in Ancona. A year later he extended the right of immigration to all Jews in return for the payment of 1,000 gold ducats a year. The Jews were allowed to practice their religion undisturbed under Julius' rule and to build a synagogue. The Curia's tolerant attitude towards Ancona's Jews ended abruptly with Cardinal Giovanni Caraffa's accession to the throne as Pope Paul IV. On July 17, 1555, in his bull Cum nimis absurdum, he introduced the obligation for Jews to live in ghettos . A few days later, the entire Jewish community in Ancona was placed under arrest, 24 Marranos, i.e. Jews who were forced to convert, were burned. A year later, Gracia Mendes , the aunt of Joseph Nasi , who lived at the court of Selim II , and her nephew from Constantinople organized an - albeit unsuccessful - boycott of Ancona.

The French occupation

From 1797 ( Republic of Ancona ) to 1814 ( Kingdom of Italy ) and again from 1832 to 1838, Ancona came under French occupation. From then on it was an important fortress town until Lamoricière had to surrender here on September 29, 1860, eleven days after his defeat at Castelfidardo .

19th century

On May 1, 1861, the city received a gas works for street lighting and for the supply of private households, which was operated by the Augsburger Gesellschaft für Gasindustrie . The city ​​was awarded the Medaglia d'oro al valor militare for the services of Ancona in the War of Independence . The southern quay was built in 1880 and several fortresses were built on the heights to protect it.

20th century

During the First World War , the Austro-Hungarian Navy attacked the port of Ancona and other targets in the region on May 23 and 24, 1915.

Attractions

Lazzaretto
Duomo San Ciriaco
The port of Ancona

In earlier times there was probably a sanctuary of Venus here . Venus is already mentioned in Catullus and Juvenal as the patron goddess of the place.

Among the city's numerous monuments is the Lazzaretto ( Laemocomium or Mole Vanvitelliana ), built by the architect Luigi Vanvitelli in 1732. The Lazzaretto is a pentagonal building with an area of ​​more than 20,000 square meters. It was built to protect the stationed troops and officers from epidemics brought in by foreign ships. Later it was used as a military hospital (hence: military hospital ) and as barracks.

In an outstanding urban location high on the summit of Monte Guasco, the oldest settlement center of the city, where a temple of Venus was located in Roman times, the Cathedral of S. Ciriaco rises with the relics of the city's saint. The distinctive building is an orientation point for seafarers and is also a vantage point for a wide view of land and sea. The Romanesque building, built in the 12th and 13th centuries, is oriented to the NE and rises above the ground plan of a Greek (equal-armed) cross, which is crowned by a twelve-sided dome above the crossing. The mighty portal from the 13th century is remarkable. Pope Pius II died in the dilapidated Episcopal palace in 1464.

Most important element of the Sta. Maria della Piazza, a simple three-aisled basilica with an open roof and a campanile, is the facade dated by an inscription. The multi-tiered arched portal shows a figuratively decorated ribbon of tendrils. An inscription in the tympanum gives the name of a master Philip and the year 1210.

To the high-lying former monastery church of San Francesco alle Scale (it .: "at the stairs") one climbs up from the Piazza San Francesco. The late Gothic portal by Giorgio Orsini (da Sebenico) from 1455, decorated in the Venetian style and provided with statues of monk saints, is remarkable . In the brightly restored interior there is hardly anything reminiscent of the original building from 1323. The apse is dominated by a 6 m high painting by Lorenzo Lotto , the Assumption of Mary, poorly restored in the lower parts .

The Palazzo del Comune was built by Margaritone d'Arezzo, but has since been restored twice.

Numerous Gothic buildings can be found in the city, including S. Agostino, Palazzo Benincasa and the Loggia dei Mercanti, all built by Giorgio Orsini, and finally the prefecture , which has Renaissance extensions . The portal of S. Maria della Misericordia shows ornaments from the early Renaissance. The archaeological museum presents interesting finds from the pre-Roman era from the graves in the area as well as two Roman clinics with ivory carvings.

The port is to the east of the city. Originally it was only protected by the promontory in the north, the headland is shaped like an elbow ( Greek ανκυιν ) around the city. Greek merchants set up a purple factory here ( Sil. Ital. Viii. 438). Even in Roman times, the coins from Ancona were minted with the bent arm holding a palm tree and with the image of Aphrodite on the reverse. At that time Greek was spoken predominantly in the city.

  • Chiesa di San Domenico

  • Chiesa di Santa Maria della Piazza

  • Chiesa di San Francesco all scale

  • Palazzo del Governo

  • Palazzo Benincasa

  • Loggia dei Mercanti

  • Archaeological Museum

  • Teatro delle Muse

  • Le Tredici Cannelle

traffic

Ancona can be reached via the Italian Autostrada Adriatica . From the Ancona Nord exit you can reach the port from the north from Rimini . In the south, the A14 runs along the coast to Pescara . The port of Ancona is one of the largest ferry ports in the Mediterranean. There are daily ferries to Igoumenitsa , Corfu and Patras in Greece , to Split , Zadar and Vis in Croatia and to Albania , as well as to Çeşme in Turkey . Furthermore, the port is also used by freighters and cruise ships started. The main train station is not far from the port. A double-track, electrified railway line runs along the Adriatic coast ( Adriabahn ). Rome , Milan and Piacenza can be reached directly from Ancona by train, among others , while Rimini and Forlì can be reached in the vicinity . In Chiaravalle , about twelve kilometers from Ancona, which is commercial airport of Ancona.

The Ancona trolleybus , a trolleybus system consisting of one line, which is supplemented by various normal bus routes, runs in the city.

Town twinning

Ancona's twin town is Split on the opposite Croatian coast of the Adriatic Sea.

sons and daughters of the town

Lived and worked in the place

literature

Web links

Commons : Ancona  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Ancona  - travel guide

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Statistiche demografiche ISTAT. Monthly population statistics of the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica , as of December 31 of 2019.
  2. ↑ NH Schilling : Statistical reports about the gas companies in Germany, Switzerland and some gas companies in other countries. 2nd, greatly increased edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 1868, p. 9 .
  3. ↑ Departure times from Ancona Centrale on the Rete Ferroviaria Italiana website
  4. ↑ James Tyler: A Guide to Playing the Baroque Guitar. Indiana University Press, Bloomington / Indianapolis 2011, ISBN 978-0-253-22289-3 , p. 96.