Ancona - Duomo

Ancona was founded in 387 BC by Greek colonists from Syracuse. Today it is a port city of about 100.000 inhabitants and the capital of the Marche region. The port has always been of great importance because it was the shortest sea connection to Dalmatia.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Ancona was attacked successively by the Goths and Lombards between the 3rd and 5th centuries but recovered its strength and importance. It was one of the cities of the Pentapolis of the Exarchate of Ravenna. In 840, Saracen raiders sacked and burned the city.

After 1000, Ancona became increasingly independent, eventually turning into a maritime republic, often clashing against the nearby power of Venice. In the 12th century, it was strong enough to push back the forces of the Holy Roman Empire. Its ships took part in the Crusades. In the struggle between the Popes and the Holy Roman Emperors Ancona sided with the Guelphs.

The Malatesta, took the city in 1348. They were ousted in 1383. In 1532 Ancona definitively lost its freedom and became part of the Papal States.
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The Duomo stands on the site of the former acropolis of the Greek city, the Guasco hill which overlooks Ancona and its gulf. In Greek and Roman times there was a temple of Venus here. In the 6th century, a Palaeo-Christian church was built. This building, destroyed by the Saracens in 840, was dedicated to San Lorenzo, but after reconstruction was dedicated to St. Judas Cyriacus.

In 995–1015, a new church was built, which kept the original walls. In 1017 the basilica received the relics of Saint Marcellinus of Ancona and Saint Cyriacus. Further enlargement works occurred between the late 12th and the early 13th centuries, with the addition of a transept to obtain a Greek cross plan, and an entrance towards the southwest, resulting in the church now facing the port and the new road entering the city.

The cathedral represents an excellent example of Romanesque art, mixed with Byzantine and Gothic elements.

Under the roofs of the cathedral are dozens of animals. Among them elephants, very similar to those in Puglia (e.g. Trani, Bari...). They have tiny ears.