ANCONA, An-k6'titl (The name alludes to its situation at the bend of the sea-coast; Gk. ayta3v, ankcin, angle, corner). The capital of the province of Ancona, in central Italy, in the division called the Marches. 132 miles northeast of Rome. lat. 43° 37' N. and long. 13° 31' E. it is an episcopal city, and, next to Venice, the most important Italian port on the Adriatic (Map: Italy H. 4). It is beautifully situated in the form of an amphitheatre between two promon tories. The harbor has been greatly improved by the Government in recent years. and is now deep enough for large vessels. It is defended from naval attack by forts, and from the violence of the sea by two moles. The ancient mole was built by Trajan, and on it stands a triumphal arch of Parian marble designed by Apollodorns. The modern mole with the light-house was built by Clement X11., and its triumphal arch was de signed by Vanvitelli. The cathedral of St. Cyriac, built in the eleventh and twelfth centuries on the site of the temple of Venus mentioned by Catullus and Juvenal, contains ten of its eolumns, with a very ancient dodecagonal dome. The town hall was built in the thirteenth ce»tury.resto•ed in the fifteenth, and partially modernized in 1647. The houses are in general mean and the streets nar row. The museum contains many valuable antiq uities and some valuable paintings. The princi pal industries are sugar refining, shipbuilding.
and the manufacture of paper, sail cloth, and silk. The exports are small: the imports are salt fish, coffee. iron and steel, wheat, raw sugar, and coal. Regular steamship communication is maintained with the principal Mediterranean ports. The United States maintains there a con sular agency. The vessels leaving the port de creased from 2192, with a tonnage Of 842,000, in 1888, to 1183. with a tonnage of 664,000, in 1889.
Ancona is supposed to have been founded by Syracusans who had fled from the tyranny of Dionysius the Elder. It was destroyed by the Goths, rebuilt by Narses, and again destroyed by the Saracens in the tenth century. It afterward became a republic. and was later annexed to the States of the Church. In 1798 it was taken by the French. who in 1799 surrendered it to the Russians and Austrians after a long and gallant defense. In 1832, when the Roman frontiers were in the possession of the Austrians, a French squadron appeared before the harbor and landed 1500 men, who took possession of the town. It remained in their hands until 1838, when both French and Austrians retired from the Papal States. In 1849 a revolutionary garrison in An cona capitulated after enduring a siege by the Austrians of twenty-five days. Pop., in 1881. 48, 000; in 1901. 57.000.