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Italian city in the Marches region
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Ancona (, also ; Italian: [aŋˈkoːna] ⓘ) is a city, seaport and comune (municipality) in the region of Marche in central Italy. It is the capital of the homonymous province and of the region, and with a population of 100,151 as of 2026, also the largest city in the region and the 45th-largest city in Italy. The city is located 280 km (170 mi) 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 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.
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 ἀγκών (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.
In Roman times Ankón continued the use of the Greek language and kept its own coinage for about a century.
When it became a Roman town is uncertain. It was a naval station in the Illyrian War of 178 BC. 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., to honor the emperor who had made "the entrance to Italy safer" (tutiorem accessum Italiae), as can be read in the inscription on the arch.
Ancona and the Arch of Trajan are depicted in Trajan's Column, with the imperial fleet departing for the Second Dacian War and Trajan haranguing his soldiers.
Ancona was attacked successively by the Goths and Lombards between the 3rd and 5th centuries, but recovered its strength and importance. It was one of the cities of the Pentapolis of the Exarchate of Ravenna, a lordship of the Byzantine Empire, in the 7th and 8th centuries. 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.
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.
Pope Paul 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.
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.
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.
On 23 May 1915, Italy entered World War I and joined the Entente Powers. In 1915, following Italy's entry, the battleship division of the Austro-Hungarian Navy carried out extensive bombardments causing great damage to all installations and killing several dozen people. 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.
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. In that year, Jewish poet Immanuel the Roman tried to lower high taxation taken from the Jewish community of the city. Over the next 200 years, Jews from Germany, Spain, Sicily and Portugal immigrated to Ancona, due to persecutions in their homeland and thanks to the pro-Jewish attitude taken towards Ancona Jews due to their importance in the trade and banking business, making Ancona a trade center.
In 1555, pope Paul IV forced the Crypto-Jewish community of the city to convert to Christianity, as part of his Papal Bull of 1555. While some did, others refused to do so and thus were hanged and then burnt in the town square. In response, Jewish merchants boycotted Ancona for a short while. The boycott was led by Dona Gracia Mendes Nasi.
Though emancipated by Napoleon I for several years, in 1843 Pope Gregory XVI revived an old decree, forbidding Jews from living outside the ghetto, wearing identification sign on their clothes and other religious and financial restrictions. 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; 53 Jews were sent away to Germany, 15 of them survived and returned to the town after World War II. The majority of the Jewish community stayed in town or emigrated due to high ransoms paid to the fascist regime. In 2004, about 200 Jews lived in Ancona.
Two synagogues and two cemeteries still exist in the city. The ancient Monte-Cardeto cemetery is one of the biggest Jewish cemeteries in Europe and tombstones are dated to 1552 and on. It can still be visited and it resides within the Parco del Cardeto.
The climate of Ancona is humid subtropical (Cfa in the Köppen climate classification) and the city lies on the border between mediterranean and more continental regions. Precipitations are regular throughout the year. Winters are cool (January mean temp. 5 °C or 41 °F), with frequent rain and fog. Temperatures can reach −10 °C (14 °F) or even lower values outside the city centre during the most intense cold waves. Snow is not unusual with air masses coming from Northern Europe or from the Balkans and Russia, and can be heavy at times (also due to the "Adriatic Sea effect"), especially in the hills surrounding the city centre. Summers are usually warm and humid (July mean temp. 22.5 °C or 72.5 °F). Highs sometimes can reach values around 35 and 40 °C (95 and 104 °F), especially if the wind is blowing from the south or from the west (föhn effect off the Apennine Mountains). Thunderstorms are quite common, particularly in August and September, and can be intense with occasional flash floods, damaging winds and even large hail. Spring and autumn are both seasons with changeable weather, but generally mild. Extremes in temperature have been −15.4 °C (4.3 °F) (in 1967) and 40.8 °C (105.4 °F) (in 1968) / 40.5 °C (104.9 °F) (in 1983).
As of 2026, the population is 100,151, of which 49.5% are males, and 50.5% are females. Minors make up 13.7% of the population, and seniors make up 26.8%.
As of 2025, immigrants make up 18.8% of the population. The 5 largest foreign countries of birth are Bangladesh, Albania, Romania, Peru, and Ukraine.
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. The church was restored in the 1980s.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Ancona”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.