Historic Center of Ancona – Wikipedia

The historic center of Ancona It is the part of the city enclosed in the nineteenth -century walls of the Marche capital, the last to have been built.

It is common use, by the Anconani who live outside the old circle of walls, indicate the center simply with the name city ; Hence the expression go to the city , which is equivalent to go to the center .

Physical geography [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The center of Ancona is built on the elbow -shaped promontory from which the city takes its name (from the Greek ankon , Meaning what elbow ); It extends over five hills and in the valley including them. All these reliefs represent the extreme northern propagations of the Cònero promontory. To the west, the city center overlooks a large natural port and on the Gulf of Ancona; East, however, is delimited by the cliffs of the high coast and dominates the open sea. Under the usual time conditions it is possible to see, beyond the Adriatic, the Dalmatia mountains.

Colle Guasco

It is surrounded by the sea to the west, north and east, and constitutes the summit of the city promontory. He extends into the sea with the rock of San Clemente, on which today the walls of Cinta dei Cantieri Navali rest; Until the interraration of 1973, the rocks of San Clementino and the fox were visible, even more off, already part of the rocky spur which in Greek times, similar to natural pier, protected the port. The cathedral of San Ciriaco stands on the top of Guasco, from which the synonyms of “Colle del Duomo” or “Colle di San Ciriaco”. Despite Guasco, with its 72 m a.s.l.m. It is less high than the others on which the city center stands, due to its protruding position on the coast, is visible by almost all the panoramic citizens.

Colle dei Cappuccini

Separated from Guasco by the saddle of the Roman amphitheater, it is delimited to the north-east by the Falesia. 106 m tall a.s.l.m., on its top there is an old lighthouse. The whole highest area of ​​the hill falls inside the Cardeto park.

Monte Cardeto

The saddle of the field of the Jews separates Monte Cardeto from the Colle dei Cappuccini. Cardeto also overlooks the north-east on the cliff; 110 m tall s.l.m., the Neapolitan Forte Cardeto is raised on its top. The whole highest area, occupied by thick vegetation, falls inside the Cardeto park.

With the rod

Guasco, the Colle dei Cappuccini and Monte Cardeto are separated from the auction and by Santo Stefano by a valley, called “della Penocchiara”, once traveled by a stream that resulted in the natural port. The auction, 106 m tall in S.L.M., has the top occupied by the powerful fortress of Ancona, sixteenth -century, surrounded by a dense forest. From its highest tower the panorama ranges on the gulf, on the open sea and, to the west, up to the Apennines. To the northwest the Monte Astagno forms the steep cliffs, also occupied by a forest. The Cittadella park extends on the highest part.

Colle di Santo Stefano.

The Colle di Santo Stefano, 98 m tall in S.L.M., has the top occupied by the Napoleonic fortification of the Lunetta di Santo Stefano. The Pincio extends around it, from which the entire central valley of the city is dominated north, towards the west the port and towards the east the open sea.

Districts [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The perimeter of the Renaissance walls and the three main courses, parallel to each other and orthogonal to the walls, divide the historic center into four districts: the oldest, including the sixteenth -century walls and the port are the Rione S. Pietro and that of Capodimonte; Instead, including between the walls of the sixteenth century and those of the nineteenth century they are the Cardeto and that of Santo Stefano district. The boundaries of all four districts touch in Piazza Roma.

From a historical point of view, we must also speak of a fifth district, that of the port, but most of it was destroyed by the bombings of the Second World War and what remains is now considered part of the S. Pietro district.

Rione San Pietro [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Occupies the south-western side of Colle Guasco and Colle de Cappuccini; The center of the district is Piazza del Papa. It is the oldest sector in the city, and indeed coincided with it until 1220.

The territory of the ancient Porto Porto, destroyed for over 80% by the bombing of 1943, is now included within San Pietro.

It should be remembered that the expression “Guasco-San Pietro” does not indicate a district of the city, but only the detailed plans that the Municipality has developed from the seventies to the nineties, to regulate urban interventions ^[2] ; The double name of these plans derives from the name of the district (San Pietro) and the name of Colle Guasco, on which a part of it stands. By influence of the denomination of these plans sometimes, by mistake, the district with this double name is also called, the use of which is absolutely to be avoided outside the administrative bureaucracy.

Capodimonte district [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Occupies the northern side of the Astagno hill; Center of the district is Piazza del Forte (Piazza Sangallo). He was born in 1300 following two subsequent expansions; It is therefore the second district of Ancona for antiquity.

It borders in the north with the San Pietro district, east with the Santo Stefano district, to the south with the Archi district and the Montirozzo district; To the west of Capodimonte, the port extends, with its docks.

Contains the following places of interest in its borders:

• The Cittadella (or fortress), powerful Renaissance fortification of Antonio da Sangallo the young man, since 2008 home to the permanent secretariat of the Ionian Adriatic initiative, organ of the Ionian Adriatic urination;
• the Cittadella park, which is enclosed by the walls of the sixteenth -century trencified field and which borders with the Cittadella, from which it takes its name (the main entrance falls into the Montirozzo district);
• The Belvedere of Capodimonte, overlooking the port, on the Mandracchio and on the pentagonal island of the eighteenth -century Lazzaretto, the work of Luigi Vanvitelli;
• the Synagogue building, which houses the Italian Synagogue room and that of the Levantine synagogue;
• the area of ​​the ancient Jewish ghetto of the city, abolished with the unification of Italy and which extended to the area of ​​via Podesti;
• the fifteenth -century portal of the former church of Sant’Agostino (Ancona), full of sculptures of the first Renaissance, the work of Giorgio da Sebenico;
• the former church of San Francesco ad Alto;
• the church of San Giovanni Battista, which is home to the Catholic parish of the Rione and hosts paintings by Federico Zuccari and Andrea Lilli;
• The Orthodox Church of San Dasio.

Cardeto district [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

It occupies the southern slope of Monte Cardeto, from which it takes its name. Together with the district of Santo Stefano, he was born following the nineteenth -century expansion and is therefore delimited by the walls of the sixteenth century and those of the nineteenth century. On the southern border of the district there are Corso Garibaldi (or new course) and two central squares of the city: Piazza Cavour and Piazza Roma.

He incorporated two villages that stood before the unification of Italy outside the walls: Borgo Càlam and Borgo Farina, which was accessed from the homonymous doors.

It is delimited to the west by the walls of the sixteenth century, to the east by those of the nineteenth century, only partially preserved. To the north overlooks the high coast with the cliffs of Monte Cardeto; To the south, on the other hand, it is delimited by Corso Garibaldi. It borders to the west with the San Pietro district, east with the Adriatic district, to the south with the Santo Stefano district.

The center of the district is the field of the exhibition (officially Piazza Malatesta), which was already existed before the birth of the district, going back to the sixteenth century; The name “field of the exhibition” is due to the fact that here, during the papal period, the capital convictions and the executed bodies were performed there were left in the “exhibition”. In 1951 the square was named after the anarchist Errico Malatesta, one of the protagonists of the motions of the red week of June 1914. In the subsoil of the square, the remains of the oldest village built in the Ancona area were found, dating back to the Bronze Age ancient.

The commercial area, located in the lower part of the district, extends along via Matteotti and Corso Mazzini (called Corso Vecchio), which welcomes the most important street market in the city.

The district includes the eastern part of the Cardeto Park, the largest in the city, full of panoramic views of the city and the sea; It is the most interesting in the city also from a naturalistic point of view.

It contains numerous monumental historic buildings:

• the nineteenth -century Vilillay barracks (now home to the Faculty of Economics “Giorgio Fuà” of the Polytechnic University of the Marche);
• The sixteenth -century walls, with the ramparts of San Pietro (or of the cabledies) and San Paolo, which mark the border with the San Pietro district.
• the nineteenth -century Palace of Justice;
• the nineteenth -century former Vittorio Emanuele theater, then Cinema Metropolitan and finally the commercial building (the external facades are originally);
• the herbs market, an example of cast iron and glass architecture of 1926;
• the Fiorato palace ^[3]
• The pavilions of the “Umberto I” civil hospital, 1911 ^[4]
• The parish church of San Cosma, demolished and reconstructed after the war, still retains the original bell tower;

In the area of ​​the Cardeto Park there are also Forte Cardeto, the Castelfidardo powder keg and the field of the Jews, an ancient Israelite cemetery of the city, dating back to the fifteenth century, recently restored.

Rione Santo Stefano [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Occupies the northern side of the Colle di Santo Stefano, from which it takes its name; The center of the district is Piazza Stamira to which, in recent decades, has been added the adjacent, modern, Piazza Pertini, which hosts the monumental sculptural group Mother lovable by Valeriano Trubiani, commonly called by the Ancona “the rhinos”.

The district overlooks two central squares: Piazza Roma and Piazza Cavour.

This district, like the previous one, is also delimited to the west from the walls of the sixteenth century, as east of those of the nineteenth century, however only partially preserved. To the south it is delimited by another stretch of the nineteenth -century walls, which is well preserved, although in strong degradation; Porta Santo Stefano opens on it. To the north, the border with the adjacent district consists of Corso Garibaldi. It borders in the north with the Cardeto district, east with the Adriatic district and Borgo Rodi, to the south with Borgo Rodi and, for a small stretch, with Montirozzo, to the west with Capodimonte.

The oldest buildings are located in the lower part of via Santo Stefano, as well as around the square and the course dedicated to Stamira; The latter area is the commercial area, full of shops of all kinds.

Important public buildings arise within the district: the “Palaveneto” sports hall, the experimental theater “Lirio Arena”, the Palazzo delle Finanziare offices, that of the civil genius; On the northern margins of the district they arise: the old palace of the province, which operates today the rectorate of the University of Ancona, the Palazzo delle Poste and that of the Railways (current headquarters of the Regional Council of the Marche region), overlooking Piazza Cavour. The high schools that arose within the borders of the district have all been transferred to another location: the Stracca commercial institute, the Professional Institute Calzecchi Onesti, the Savoy Scientific High School.

In the highest and most panoramic area stands the park of the Lunetta di Santo Stefano, delimited by the nineteenth-century walls, which welcomes inside military buildings dating back to the post-unitary period, in which Ancona was first-class stronghold of the kingdom; Other green areas are the bezzecca park and the San Costanzo park.

The Greek city [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The Syracusans Dori who settled at the top of Colle Guasco (hence the appellation of Ancona “Doric City”), attracted by the favorable position and the natural defenses of the port, began the construction of the buildings by arranging them as spectators around a hypothetical stage represented from the gulf; Like any traditional city of Greek origin, there were also an agora and an acropolis in Ancona, around which the buildings that descended towards the sea were developed to meet with the port. Of this distant historical period (the foundation of the city is traced back to 387 BC), the base of a Doric temple dedicated to the Aphrodite goddess visible inside the cathedral remains, which today stands at the top of Colle Guasco, on the ruins of the Greek temple and the subsequent paleo-Christian basilica.

The Roman city [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Ancona became Roman town hall in 113 BC. and the city structures suffered a slow transition from Ankon Greek to the Roman one. The Greek agorà, probably located in correspondence with the current square and Palazzo del Senato, as well as along the initial stretch of the current Via Ciriaco Pizzaccole, became the Roman Forum (remains of some columns are still visible in the area next to the Palazzo del Senate and in front of the Ferretti palace (right in the face of the entrance of the National Archaeological Museum of the Marche). The amphitheater, whose entrance arch is still visible today in the square of the same name, was perhaps built on a pre -existing Greek theater. L ‘Acropoli continued to host the same Doric Temple and the cult was transferred to Venus Euplea, protector of the sailors.
The best known monument of the Roman city is however the Arch of Trajan, erected by the Senate and the Roman people in 115 in honor of the emperor Trajan to celebrate the victory of the Dacic countryside, shipments that started from the port of Ancona.
Of particular interest are the excavations in the port area that brought to light the remains of the warehouses and shipyards of the Traian Porto.

Other testimonies of the Roman Ancona are widespread throughout the underground of the historic center: remains of home paved with mosaic, shops, paved roads. Sometimes these remains are visible, other times, such as those of Corso Mazzini, are covered by the road surface and awaiting redevelopment. Under the current Piazza Pertini (inside the underground parking of the same name) the remains of the factory of colored fabrics with the purple are visible, well known in the classic era.
The Roman city of the pre-traianian period was surrounded by walls whose perimeter ran along the port (behind the church of Santa Maria della Piazza), to then follow the northern side of Piazza del Papa, via Fanti and finally reach the edge of the Rupi.
During the Trajan’s Empire, the city expanded considerably, until the whole area of ​​the current three main courses are understood; However, the situation of political and military stability did not make the construction of new walls necessary.

Middle Ages [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

After the fall of Rome [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

In addition to Rome, the whole Italian peninsula suffered a serious blow in terms of well -being and splendor; During the first centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Ancona held his head high thanks to the relationships with the Byzantine Empire; During the Gothic-Byzantine war, however, it underwent the destruction of the neighborhoods placed outside the walls and the inhabited center was marked inside the pre-traineeous walls. This process is similar to that of many other Italian cities in this period. In 832 AD It was destroyed and sacked by the Saracens. This date is historical for Ancona: it marks the definitive end of the classical age for the Doric city, which takes place slowly only in the period of two following centuries.

The Marine Republic [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

After 1000, but above all from the twelfth century, Ancona, enriching thanks to the numerous trafficking with the East, lived the best and richer years in its history.
The inhabited area returned to expand, following the curve of the natural port: in the twelfth century new walls included the new Rione di Capodimonte in the city perimeter, perched on the Astagno hill, whose top was reached by the 14th century belt.
It is during the period of the Marine Republic ^[5] that the city is divided into the three thirds of San Pietro, of the Port and Capodimonte.
Economic well -being also led to an artistic flowering; It is above all remembered the large construction site of the Cathedral of San Ciriaco on top of Colle Guasco; One of the most important Romanesque-Bizantine churches in Italy.

The heart of the city’s political life was the scenic palace of the elderly. Built in the simple and harmonious Romanesque style, the Palazzo del Senato, the first seat of the city government, and the church of Santa Maria del Mercato (then “of the square”) are also admirable, so called because in the area in front of the structure it used to be the Oriental spices market.

Near this church, in via della Loggia, one of the best preserved and more characteristic medieval streets cannot escape the Benincasa Palace and the Loggia dei Mercanti, whose facades must be made to Giorgio da Sebenico. The famous Dalmatian architect is also the author of the portals of the church of San Francesco at the stairs and the church of Sant’Agostino.

The Jewish ghetto [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Until 1532, a date that marks the end of the Doric Oligarchic Republic, the Jewish community actively participated in city life, without forms of discrimination. After the end of the Marine Republic, the ghetto was established in 1555, which became one of the most important in Italy. The area of ​​residence for the cooked residence for the population of Jewish faith was very extensive and corresponded to the current Podesti streets, auction and cialdini. From the bastions of the citadel to the top of the Colle Astagno, precisely from the square in front of the church of San Francesco ad Alto (the current military district), the ghetto went down to the sea and up to the first Christian homes surrounded by the slopes of Colle Guasco; In the middle of these narrow and suggestive streets there is the synagogue (another was at the base of the area). Despite the forced imprisonment, the Jews were well integrated with the city fabric, but the bonfires of the Marrani in 1556 in the historic field of the exhibition (the current Errico Malatesta square) will problematically chain the relationship between the various city religious communities.

The Ghetto of Ancona was definitively closed with the annexation of the Marche to the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy.

Ancona Porto Franco Pontifical [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

After two centuries of slow but inexorable decline under the papal domain, Ancona was shaken at the end of 1690 by a terrible earthquake that caused eight deaths and countless damage to churches, buildings and homes. With the granting of the “Franco port” by Pope Clement XII (1732), the maritime traffic rescued and the glories of a dormant glory soon returned.

The eighteenth century Anconetano bears the name of Luigi Vanvitelli: on behalf of the Pontiff, the famous architect restored and expanded the traiana port (in particular the north pier) to make it adequate to the times and the size of the traffic, built the Clementine arch in progress all ‘Arco di Traiano and the Church of the Jesus, high in the center of the port arch; Above all, however, he gave posterity the spectacular Lazzaretto, built on an artificial island of pentagonal form made outside the port.

In the eighteenth century, at the behest of Pope Pius VI, a new access road to the city by land was opened, coming from the North, along the coast, the current Via Marconi – Via XXIX Settembre, equipped with a monumental entrance: Porta Pia, So called in honor of the pontiff who made her realize.

The church of San Domenico are also from this period, which enriches the medieval Piazza Grande – today Piazza del Plebiscito, which the Anconetans commonly call Piazza del Pope with reference to the statue of Pope Clement XII which rats you in the center of the two roads of Access to the Church, and the Church of the Most Holy Sacrament which stands in the current Piazza della Repubblica, in front of the Muse Theater, near the port.

The nineteenth century [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The last years of the papal domain [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

From 1532 to 1860 Ancona remains closed by the same wall. In 1822 the old Palazzo del Bargello was demolished and replaced by the Teatro delle Muse, built a stone’s throw from the sea. On the Capuchin hill stands the lighthouse, the last work built in the city during papal domination.

Ancona Piazzaforte of the Kingdom of Italy [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

After entering the Kingdom of Italy, the city was enlarged with the first regulatory plan approved in the young state. The surface doubled and new walls were built; The post-unitary districts of Santo Stefano and Cardeto were born. As in the other Italian cities of the time, the expansion took place with the checkerboard plant, taken from the provisional capital Turin. The road axis on which the chessboard was hidden was the new Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, today Corso Garibaldi, who started from Piazza del Teatro, near the port plates, and was heading to the east. At the beginning of the new course, the Palazzo Rheinold arose, under design by the architect Francesco Tamburini.

New tree -lined squares opened, which made the polycentric city: Piazza Stamira, dedicated to the medieval Stamira Anconetana heroine; Piazza Roma, dedicated to the future capital of the Kingdom and Piazza Cavour, dedicated to Cavour, of which you can admire a valuable statue, the work of the well -known sculptor Aristodemo Costoli.

In the young unitary state Ancona found himself playing a leading role from a military point of view: being still in the hands of the Austrians both Venice (annexed only in 1866), and Trieste (annexed only in 1918), the Doric port became the seat of the Italian military fleet of the Adriatic; Furthermore, given that Lazio was the last flap of the State of the Church, the only way that united the North and the south of the nation passed precisely to Ancona, which assumed military importance also from the terrestrial point of view. King Vittorio Emanuele II thus declared Ancona “stronghold of the first class kingdom”. Numerous fortifications arose for this reason, including Forte Altavilla, Forte Garibaldi and Forte Scima; The architect who led this general fortification work of the city was Giuseppe Morando.

World wars and the fascist period [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

On the morning of May 25, 1915, a few hours from the declaration of war of Italy to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ancona and the port are bombed by the Austrian fleet. There are huge damage that reports the historic center.

During the fascist twenty years there is a further enlargement of the town outside the walls behind Piazza Cavour, in the Piana degli Orti. A sea-mare walk with a tree-lined avenue is drawn over 1 kmd, the Viale della Vittoria, and the imposing eclectic buildings of the post office, by Guido Cirilli, and the Littorio (hour of the people), of Amos Lucchetti, adjacent are built in the nineteenth -century square. At the end of the avenue we arrive at the cliffs of the Paster, with the well -known monument to the fallen, also of Cirilli, inaugurated in 1932.

Bombing of 1943/44 [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Ancona with the bombings of 1943-1944 lost some important monuments, and one of the three oldest districts, the Porto Rione, was demolished for 85% of its surface. Among the monuments destroyed in this district we remember the Church of San Primiano and that of Mercy (then reconstructed in another area); Among the most significant streets and squares destroyed by the bombs in the Porto district are Piazza San Primiano, ancient access to the city with port docks, and part of via Saffi, the main medieval artery of the district.

Most of the demolitions in the port area were carried out by the bulldozers of the Anglo-Polacche troops, to allow the landing and transit of heavy vehicles by the ships attacked at the port and the creation of a provisional oil pipeline from the port to the refinery of Falconara M.ma, which became the fuel distribution center for all military vehicles of the allied armies engaged on the Adriatic front.

The other two oldest districts, St. Peter and Capodimonte, are also heavily damaged; In the San Pietro district they disappear under the bombs and subsequent hasty demolitions the church of San Pietro, that of the Orthodox rite of Sant’Anna, called the Greeks; The convent of San Francesco alle Scale is semi -deceived; In Capodimonte part of the sea front of the main street, via Cialdini, was destroyed and the Capodimonte gate was demolished by the allied troops to facilitate the entry of the armored vehicles in the city.

Despite what is commonly believed, the Muse Theater was not seriously hit (only the roof of the room was broken through) and was not even counted in the list of damaged buildings drawn up after the war. The right arm of the Duomo was seriously affected and was reconstructed after the war by reusing the old stones (anastilosis).

After the first two tragic bombings in the city, less than 4000 people remained because those who could seek refuge by thinning out in the countryside and surrounding countries. The inhabitants returned to their homes only after the liberation of the city by the troops of the II Polish body, commanded by General Władysław Anders.

Despite the many destroyed buildings, the image of the city as a whole was saved: first of all because the image of a city like Ancona is based on its particular geographical position on the summit of a promontory, but also because most of the symbols of the symbols of the city, its streets and its most characteristic squares were damaged, but not destroyed: thus it was for the cathedral, its bell tower, the green dome of S. Pellegrino, the Arch of Trajan, the Palazzo degli Eldazi, the facades Fourteenth -century of San Francesco alle Scale, the Loggia dei Mercanti and Sant’Agostino, the Synagogue, the Fountain of the Thirteen Cinnelle and that of the Horses. Between the streets and squares, Corso Vecchio (Mazzini), via della Loggia, the characteristic climb to the Duomo (via del Comune, now Pizzacolli), Piazza del Papa and its monuments were not damaged: the church of San Domenico, the Civic tower, the buildings, the statue of Pope Clement XII and the fountain.

The second post -war period [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The reconstruction of the capital is carried out quickly, albeit with hasty demolitions of buildings that would have been recoverable (Porta Capodimonte, Palazzo Trionfi, church of San Pietro).

Palazzo Trionfi is replaced by the Rai palace, under design by the architect Gaetano Minnucci.

The nineteenth -century interior is unexpectedly destroyed of the Muse Theater, to obtain a modern room, which, however, for several decades, remained unfinished.

The headquarters of the Town Hall is moved by the Palazzo degli Eldiano, which had remained damaged by the bombings, in the former Palazzo del Littorio, which takes on the new name of Palazzo del Popolo.

After the earthquake of the 10th degree of the Mercalli scale, which affects the city on June 14, 1972, lasting 15 seconds, the historic center must be abandoned by its inhabitants, which are forced to take refuge in railway wagons, in the ships moored at the port and in 56 tentains set up in the squares and sports fields. Within ten years, most of the historic buildings are restored and adequate to the anti -seismic criteria with avant -garde techniques, following the choice not to build new neighborhoods as a solution to the problem of displaced people ^[6] . In the same year of the earthquake, the Parliament issues a law decree (Legislative Decree 6 October 1972, nº 552 ^[7] ) to face the restoration of the historic center of Ancona. The Municipality of Ancona, for the restoration of the ancient districts, was awarded an award by the European Community in 1980 ^[8] . In some limited cases, however, there are criticized demolitions and reconstructions, as in via Cardeto and in via ScospiaVavalli, where the so -called “Bus” homonym was created, under the design of the architect Sergio Lenci ^[9] . In the same years some isolates were also reconstructed that had been demolished by the bombings of the Second World War, as happened in via Cialdini, creating very criticized buildings for their extraneousness to the historical context.

The return of the City Council in the ancient municipal seat of the Palazzo degli Eldiano, the opening of the Cardeto Park and the Muse Theater aim for a renewed attention for the oldest nucleus of the city.