ANCONA
Ancóna
was the seat of an inhabited protovillanoviano, then the centre
of the Piceni, beginning from the first part of the Iron Age.
The Greeks frequented the City before the 4th Century BC,
when it became a Siracusan Colony. Conquered in 268 BC by
the Romans, it continued to gain importance, until the Emperor
Traiano constructed a new port to the East of the Greek one,
which included an artificial pier, approximately 300 m in
length. The City saw a decline during the late-imperial period,
and became one of the main exarchate cities of Ravenna, after
the victory of the Byzantines during the war against the Goths
(535-552.) Passed along with the other cities of the Pentapoli,
to become part of the Pontificate territory (774), it maintained
a notable autonomy, competing for commerce against the Saracens,
Normans and Venice, with the Adriatic ports. Then counted
under the Marca, from which the City derived its name, and
enjoying communal freedom from 1177 (only for brief periods
being subject of the Malatesta and Francesco Sforza), until
in 1532 it passed hands to the government of the Church. This
saw a renovation and amplification of its own port, work of
Pope Clemente XII (1734), who entrusted it to a special congregation.
Conquered by French troops and transformed into a Republic
in 1797, then finally annexed to the Italian Reign in 1808,
it returned to being part of the Pontificate State in 1815.
The City fell into the hands of the Patriots between February
and March 1831 and suffered occupation by French troops until
1838. It was then occupied by General Cialdini on 29th September
1860 and finally returned to Italy.
During the Second World War, at the end of 1943, it suffered
aerial bombardments which damaged it considerably.
The damage from the terrible Earthquake of 1972 and the subsequent
digs and reconstruction of the City, have determined important
archaeological finds: For example, a Picena Necropolis has
been discovered; in the Roman Necropolis, amongst the latest
finds to be counted, there’s the so called Tomb “of
hairdressing,” because of the characteristic instruments
discovered there. Traces of an old settlement found in the
Colle del Cordeto, are also noteworthy.
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