Hi my friend!!!😁
Today I'll let you know the ancient port of the city of Ancona, we are about 20 kilometers from my house, Ancona is the capital of the Marche Region and overlooks the Adriatic Sea.
The port of Ancona is important for both commercial and tourist nautical connections, in fact from here ships leave every day both for other Italian ports and for Croatia, Montenegro, Albania and Greece above all.
This port usually also offers a stopover for cruise travel so that going around the city center you can find tourists every season who take the opportunity to see the beauties of this city.
The port consists of a large area dedicated to commerce and then continues right in front of the oldest area of the city with the ancient port, this stretch is between the departure area of tourist and commercial ships and the famous Fincantieri company which is a excellence in shipbuilding…right in the middle we find the remains of the ancient port!!!
You can reach this area by any means you want to do, ship, plane, bus, train…they are all means of transport with which you can easily get to Ancona and the port.
I personally go by car for flexibility, there are some organized paid parking!!
Near the port you can find anything you need… street food, restaurants, hotels, bars, B&Bs etc…
The walk is pleasant, carried out on a wide road that can also be traveled by car but is forbidden to the public in some sections.
Once arrived in the port area of Ancona I follow the signs for the ancient port, looking at the sea you have to go right, I start walking in an area where the port police are and I come across the first historical area, the Panunzi port, an over 500-year-old harbor gate with remnants of the old harbor walls.
PORTELLA PANUNZI
Continuing to walk, you pass in front of bars and refreshment points where the inhabitants of Ancona love to spend relaxing moments near the sea but where you can also find tourists who arrive by ship.
The walk along the sea is about 20 minutes but can vary depending on where you start your promenade..
Continuing we arrive at the beautiful Arch of Trajan
TRAJAN'S ARCH
The Arch of Trajan was built between 115-116 AD. in honor of the homonymous emperor as a thank you for the works he carried out at his own expense for the expansion and enhancement of the port of Ancona. It is a very elegant work that bears the signature of one of the most important architects of the time, Apollodorus of Damascus; the same architect who designed the grand Trajan's Forum in Rome. From the same port of Ancona, Trajan left for the war in Dacia as evidenced by one of the scenes carved on Trajan's Column. The Arch has a single arch with two Corinthian columns on both sides and, in the upper part, has an inscription enriched in ancient times in bronze as well as the friezes and rostrums that decorated the work. According to tradition, the attic was decorated by the large equestrian statue of Trajan flanked by that of his wife Plotina and her sister Ulpia Marciana.
You can climb the stairway and pass under it, really walk inside history, once you pass under the arch you can walk on the ancient walls that connect the Arch of Trajan to the Clementine arch, another beautiful arch built later between the Arch of Trajan and the sea.
Both arches are beautiful and if you get to the sea and look back you can admire the beautiful arches and the city of Ancona in the background, how beautiful!!!!
CLEMENTINE ARCH
According to some historians who have tried to reconstruct the history of this place, it was erected, on the proposal of Vanvitelli, in honor of Pope Clement XII, by the will of the Senate of Ancona, grateful to the pontiff who, a true patron of Ancona, granted the city the free port, giving new impetus to the centuries-old naval traffic, and commissioned the famous architect to redesign the port. Thus it was that the Lazzaretto and the new pier arose. The Clementine arch is the gateway to the city from the sea; it rises at the point where the new pier joins the ancient Roman pier, on which it already stood from the 1st century AD. the Arch of Trajan. In the intentions of the promoters of the project, the Clementine Arch should have obscured the view of the pagan Arch of Trajan: the blessing statue of Clement XII should have been placed on its attic (as evidenced by the original drawings by Vanvitelli) and the minting of a medal honorific commissioned by the inhabitants of Ancona and donated to the pope, thus representing, together with the Cathedral high up on the Guasco hill, the first image that would have been presented to sailors upon entering the Doric port. A statue of the blessing pope, the work of the sculptor Agostino Cornacchini (1738), was then purchased in Rome and transported to Ancona. At that point it was realized that the structure of the arch, built in brick and with only the facade facing the sea in travertine, could not have supported the considerable weight of the marble statue. Therefore, while waiting to be able to find the financial resources for the consolidation and reinforcement works of the Arch structure, the Ancona Senate decided to place the statue, "provisionally", in the center of the Piazza Grande (also called "del Comune") which , due to the presence of the sculpture, it was immediately renamed Piazza del Papa by the people of Ancona. the affection that the inhabitants of Ancona showed for the new arrangement of the square which acquired a monumental and scenographic dimension that it lacked in the past. From an aesthetic point of view, the effects are remarkable especially on the part facing the sea, in travertine. The choice, which may seem singular, to leave the facade facing the city in simple brick can be understood by remembering that the arch served as a city gate and that therefore its main façade was, as usual, facing outwards. Due to the death of Vanvitelli the arch remained incomplete; subsequently the work was resumed at the behest of Pope Benedict XIV and was entrusted to the architect Filippo Marchionni, who also completed the new pier.
The ancient cannons found in these places were placed under the walls and restored to be displayed to the public.
In front of the Arco Clementino you can find bars that cater to tourists but also to fishermen and truck drivers who pass through the area and need a little relaxation or refreshment.
My friend, if you decide to visit Ancona, I recommend a walk here at the ancient port, it really deserves a visit!!😉
All photos were taken by me while visiting these places with my family.