Situation
Ancona, capital of the Marche region and the province of the same name, is picturesquely situated between foothills and the bay on the Italian Adriatic coast.
Importance
At present Ancona is an important traffic junction (railway; airport 13km/8mi west
at Falconara) and a developing port: ferry services to Yugoslavia and Greece and the growing fishing industry mean a considerable economic upswing in recent years. The making of musical instruments contributes to this.
History
Ancona was founded by refugees from Syracuse about 390 B.C. under the name of Dorica Ancon (from the Greek word ankón = bend or curve, after the shape of the promontory on which the town was built). In the third century B.C. it became a Roman colony, and in the reigns of Caesar and Trajan it was fortified and developed into a naval base. Although the town was presented to the Pope by Charlemagne in 774 and at the end of the 16th century was formally incorporated in the Papal States, it contrived in practice to maintain its independence throughout the Middle Ages. Ancona has been the seat of a bishop since 462.
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