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ANCONA |
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Severely damaged by war and earthquakes, workaday ANCONA has a few
historical monuments embedded in a tangle of commercial buildings. The
modern centre is a bland grid of broad avenues and palm-shaded piazzas,
while the station area, with its one-night cheap hotels, gaudy Chinese
restaurants and heavy trucks travelling noisily to and from the port,
will probably make you want to take the next train out. However, as the
Adriatic's largest port it's a convenient departure point, and you may
well pass through in order to catch one of the regular ferries to Greece
and Croatia so for this reason you may find yourself making an overnight
stop.
The Town
Regular buses run along the seafront from the train station to the port,
passing the pentagonal Lazzaretto , built within the harbour in the
eighteenth century as a quarantine station for immigrants. The port
itself is headed by a well-preserved Roman arch, the Arco di Traiano ,
raised in honour of Emperor Trajan, under whose rule Ancona first became
a major port. Behind it is the Arco Clementino , a piece of
architectural self-congratulation by Pope Clement XII, who made Ancona a
free port in the eighteenth century and thus considered himself Trajan's
equal.
On a steep hill overlooking the port rises the town's Romanesque duomo.
What survives of old Ancona is spread out below it, and a wander up the
hill is the most pleasant way of filling in time before your ferry
leaves. At the foot of the hill is Piazza della Repubblica, from which
Via della Loggia leads past the Loggia dei Mercanti , whose Gothic
splendours can be seen in all their glory now that the layers of grime
have been cleaned off - you can make out the figures of medieval
dignitaries and horsemen below its elaborately carved windows.
Backtracking to Piazza della Repubblica, take a left into Corso Mazzini,
where there's a long sixteenth-century fountain with 13 spouting heads,
all with great expressions, attributed to Pellegrino Tibaldi
Equally appealing is the Romanesque church of Santa Maria della Piazza ,
its facade a fantasia of blind loggias and its portal carved with chunky
figures and elegant birds. Behind the church, on Via Pizzecolli, is the
town's Pinacoteca Comunale (Mon 9am-1pm, Tues-Sat 9am-7pm, Sun 3-7pm;
L5000/¬2.58). The highlight here is Titian's Apparition of the Virgin ,
a sombre yet impassioned work, with the Virgin appearing to a rotund and
fluffy-bearded bishop in a stormy sunset sky. There's also a glorious
Sacra Conversazione by Lotto, a view of sixteenth-century Ancona by
Andrea Lilli, and an exquisite yet chilling Madonna and Child by Carlo
Crivelli, with a mean-looking Mary pinching the toe of a rather pained
Christ, incongruously flanked by bunches of apples and a marrow.
Beyond the gallery is the church of San Francesco delle Scale , named
for the steps leading up to it. Titian's Apparition was painted for here,
but today its most remarkable work is an almost orgasmic Assumption by
Lotto. Further up the hill, the Museo Archeologico is not a bad place to
spend an hour (June-Sept Mon-Fri & Sun 8.30am-7.30pm, Sat 9am-11pm;
Oct-May Mon-Sat 8.30am-7.30pm, Sun 9am-8pm; L8000/¬4.13), its wacky
moulded ceilings vaulting over a collection of finds ranging from
splendid Greek red- and black-figure craters to bright gold-leaf
jewellery.
Passing the remains of the Roman amphitheatre, now capped with
graffitied earthquake-shattered buildings, you climb up to the pink-and-white
Duomo (or San Ciriaco). Though mostly built in a restrained Romanesque
style, there's an outburst of Gothic exuberance in the doorway's cluster
of slender columns, some plain, others twisted and carved. The simple
and calm interior is built on a Greek-cross plan, enlivened by a cupola
that from below resembles an elongated umbrella. The most memorable
feature, however, is a screen along the edge of the raised right
transept, one section of which is carved with eagles, fantastic birds
and storks entwined in a tree, the other with saints.
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