Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Ancona
on the N. by the Adriatic Sea and the province of Pesaro-Urbino, on the W. by Pesaro-Urbino and Umbria, on the S. by Macerata, and on the E. by the Adriatic. It forms part of the old district of the Marches, which passed from the dominion of the Pope to that of Victor Emmanuel in 1860. The Marches comprise the March of Ancona on the north and the March of Fermo on the south, although the whole territory is sometimes called the March of Ancona. The name, however, has long ceased to be the official designation of any part of Italy, and the present province of Ancona, which has an area of 740 square miles, and a population of 262,369, corresponds in extent neither to the March of Ancona, nor to the Papal delegation of the same name. There is little that is peculiar in the physical features of the province; the rivers are small and unim portant, and the hills are of no great height. Agriculture is the chief industry, and the soil, although naturally poor, yields large and profitable crops through the energy of its inhabitants. Considerable attention is also paid to the rearing of cattle and sheep, and the vine and the mulberry are grown to some extent. The cultivation of the silk worm has not of late years been very successful, owing to the prevalence of disease in the worm. Chalk, sulphur, and raw petroleum are found, in different parts of the province, but as yet little has been done to utilise those discoveries. The principal towns are Ancona, Jesi, and
Osirno.Ancona, a city of Italy, and capital of the province of the same name, is pleasantly situated on the Adriatic, 132 miles N.E. of Rome, in a sort of amphitheatre between two hills Monte Ciriaco and Monte Guasco or Conero. The streets are narrow and irregular, but the city contains some fine buildings, among which may be mentioned the cathedral of St Ciriaco (which is said to occupy the site of an ancient and famous temple of Venus), several of the churches, and the citadel. The harbour, one of the best on the Adriatic, is defended by several forts and protected by two moles. On the older of these moles there is a magni ficent triumphal arch of Parian marble, erected in honour of the Emperor Trajan, by whom the mole was built, while the other mole possesses a second arch, of much inferior beauty, dedicated to Pope Benedict XIV. Ancona ceased to be a free port in 1869, and this circumstance, together with the gradual accumulation of mud iu the harbour, and the conversion of a mercantile ship-building yard into a naval arsenal, has had a very unfavourable effect upon the commerce of the place. In 1843 the value of the imports was 1,020,770, and of the exports 428,219; in 1869 the respective amounts had decreased to 585,296, and 157,969. The chief articles imported are coal, hardware, sugar, fish, cottons, woollens, linens, lead, iron, and petro leum; while the chief exports are wheat, maize, wine, raga, liquorice, and manufactured goods; the principal manu factures of the town being silk, paper, tallow, wax, and leather. Ancona has a population of 46,000, many of whom are Jews and Greeks. The city was founded about 380 B.C. by Syracusan exiles, who fled from Sicily in order to escape the tyranny of the elder Dionysius. From its admirable position it rapidly rose in importance as a seaport, and it also became celebrated for its purple dye. The exact time of its subjection to the Romans is un certain, but it was probably about 268 B.C., when the rest of Picenum came under the power of Rome. After the dis solution of the Western Empire, Ancona was plundered by the Goths, Lombards, and Saracens successively, but it always recovered its strength and importance, and eventually became a semi-independent republic, under fhe protection of the Popes. It continued in this posi tion until 1532, when Clement VII. made himself master of it, and incorporated it with the Papal dominion. In 1797 it was taken by the French, who, in 1799, had in turn to surrender to a combined force of Austrians, Rus sians, and Turks, after a long and gallant defence under General Meunier. The French recovered possession of it in 1805, and soon after annexed it to their kingdom of Italy, but the Treaty of Vienna restored it to the Pope iu 1815. In 1832 the French - seized Ancona, in order to check the Austrians, who were then occupying Bologna and the surrounding country; and they retained possession of it until the Austrians evacuated the Papal territory in 1838. In 1860 Ancona was held by a hastily organised body of Belgians and Irishmen under the command of the French general, Lamoriciere. It was here that Lamoriciere retired after his disastrous defeat at Castelfidardo by Cial- dini, when Victor Emanuel determined on invading the Papal States. On the 29th of September (eleven days after Castelfidardo), Lamoriciere capitulated at Ancona with his entire army. In 1861 the city of Ancona, like the rest of the province, became part of the new kingdom of Italy.