From the origins to the Roman period
In ancient times, Cumerio was a spur which extended much further into the sea, so as to form a small but very well-sheltered harbour where the shipyards are today. Attracted by the safety of the approach, ancient peoples came ashore and settled on the slopes of Guasco and Cappuccini. Later, the Piceni arrived from Sabina, guided by the bird sacred to Mars, the woodpecker.
Greek and Etruscan influences made the inhabitants ever more civilised. In 387 BC a colony of Dorians from Syracuse came to settle on Astagno hill, bringing a breath of advanced civilisation: solid and stately buildings started to rise, and defensive walls were built around the city. That is why Ancona was called a Doric city.
Ancona was now beginning to make people fear it. Warlike and heavily-populated, it repulsed the invasion of the Galli Senoni. It was an ally of Rome against the Gauls and the Samnites, until in 276 BC it became a Roman colony. Ancona fought alongside Rome against Hannibal. The emperor Trajan improved the port and the fortifications, and it was actually from Ancona that Trajan set off for his victorious campaign against the Dacians.
The Senate and people of Rome immortalised the event with the magnificent honorific arch, attributed to the architect Apollodorus of Damascus, in 115 AD. Ancona was the first Picenian city to embrace Christianity: on Astagno hill in the fourth century of the Common Era there already existed a small "memoria" (oratory), which later became the cathedral dedicated to St. Stephen, protector of the city. The cathedral is mentioned by St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church and bishop of Hippo in Africa, in a sermon of 425. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the invasions began, by the Visigoths, the Vandals, and the Goths under Vitige and Totila . The city had to defend itself repeatedly.
When the Lombards descended, it had to accept their protection, but when the Franks came down, Ancona placed itself under the high dominion of the Church. It is then that the region took the Lombard name of the March.
Greek and Etruscan influences made the inhabitants ever more civilised. In 387 BC a colony of Dorians from Syracuse came to settle on Astagno hill, bringing a breath of advanced civilisation: solid and stately buildings started to rise, and defensive walls were built around the city. That is why Ancona was called a Doric city.
Ancona was now beginning to make people fear it. Warlike and heavily-populated, it repulsed the invasion of the Galli Senoni. It was an ally of Rome against the Gauls and the Samnites, until in 276 BC it became a Roman colony. Ancona fought alongside Rome against Hannibal. The emperor Trajan improved the port and the fortifications, and it was actually from Ancona that Trajan set off for his victorious campaign against the Dacians.
The Senate and people of Rome immortalised the event with the magnificent honorific arch, attributed to the architect Apollodorus of Damascus, in 115 AD. Ancona was the first Picenian city to embrace Christianity: on Astagno hill in the fourth century of the Common Era there already existed a small "memoria" (oratory), which later became the cathedral dedicated to St. Stephen, protector of the city. The cathedral is mentioned by St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church and bishop of Hippo in Africa, in a sermon of 425. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the invasions began, by the Visigoths, the Vandals, and the Goths under Vitige and Totila . The city had to defend itself repeatedly.
When the Lombards descended, it had to accept their protection, but when the Franks came down, Ancona placed itself under the high dominion of the Church. It is then that the region took the Lombard name of the March.
