Download city of ancona - Comune di Venezia

CITY OF ANCONA
Surface: kmq 124,6
Population: 100.410 inhabitants
Geographical localization
A chief town of Marche region, situated at the centre of the Adriatic coast and,
thanks to its peculiar “elbow” shape jutting out onto the sea, it is the only town on
the entire coast to see the sun rise and set over the sea.
Main landscape patterns
The landscape is characterized by sandy coastal areas (North of the port of
Ancona) and the rocky beach Passetto famous for its grottos dug out of the cliff by
fishermen (900 meters extended). Across the countryside of gentle hills and
farmed fields, the green promontory of Mount Conero (approximately 600 meters)
can be reached.
The landscape is consisting of the axis of the coastal-hill system formed, from
east to west, by the hills of the Cardeto, the Cappuccini and the Guasco.
Main historical steps
The name of the town originates from the Greek word “Ankon”, which in fact
means “elbow”, and was conceived by the first Greek sailors who docked in this
natural harbour at the foot of Guasco Hill. An ancient elbow, preistoric even, that
boasts settlements of the Bronze Age dating back to the second millennium BC
and that preserves in its museums the evidence of the Picenes civilisation from
the Iron Age. In 387 BC, a colony of Siracusans, of Doric descent, settled in the
town building monuments and walls around it in blocks of sand stone. Allied with
the Romans in the battle of Sentinum against the Sannites, Etruscans and Gauls,
Ancona entered the Roman orbit after the year 295 BC, becoming one of its
colonies. Under the rule of Emperor Trajan (2nd Century AD), the strategic
importance of the town grew considerably. Trajan developed the port in line with
his “Dacian campaigns”, aiming to use Ancona as a bridge with the Orient. In
honour of this emperor, the Arch was erected on the mole attributed to
Apollodorus of Damascus (115 AD).
Destroyed by the Saracens in the year 839, Ancona was organised around the
Eleventh Century into an independent commune, developing maritime commerce
with the East and constructing prestigious monuments: the Cathedral of St.
Ciriaco, the Senate house and the church of Santa Maria della Piazza.
In 1167 and 1174, Ancona withstood the assaults of Frederick Barbarossa (Red
Beard) and his Chancellor, Cristiano di Magonza. From the 14th to 17th Century,
Ancona experienced the most prosperous and outstanding period of its history,
adding to the urban fabric with remarkable monuments. An important town
belonging to the Papal State, Ancona underwent a considerable economic and
demographic decline from the mid 17th to the 18th Century. It regained its
splendour when it was declared a free port by Pope ClementXII, who instructed
the architect Luigi Vanvitelli in 1732 to build the impressive Lazzaretto, now a
symbol of the cultural rebirth of the town.
Ancona played an important part in the patriotic unrest of the Risorgimento and,
after the battle of Castelfidardo in 1860, the town became part of the Kingdom of
Italy.
Considerably damaged during World War I and most of all by the terrible
bombings in 1943 and 1944, the town lost the majority of its historical districts
situated arround the port, on Guasco, Astagno and Cappuccini Hills. The urban
structures of the city were seriously damaged (and heavily characterized in their
future evolution) also by a powerful earthquake (1982) and a very large landslide,
that interested in 1982 almost the whole north part of the city.
As a result of the geopolitical changes of the last ten years, Ancona has
remarkably expanded, thanks to its location in the centre of the Adriatic.