Nice print titled Ancone. - la ville et le port, from wood engraving with fine detail and clear impression, approx. page size 28 x 19 cm, approx. image  size is 19 x 13 cm. From La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes, 19 vol., 1875-94 (In English: The Earth and Its Inhabitants, 1878-94), great work of Elisee Reclus.

Ancona

capital of Ancona provincia and of Marche regione, in central  Italy, on the Adriatic Sea on the farthest branch of the promontory that  descends from the Conero massif. Founded by Syracusan colonists in about 390 BC,  it was taken by Rome in the 2nd century BC and became a flourishing port,  particularly favoured by the Roman emperor Trajan, who enlarged the harbour.  Attacked by Goths, Lombards, and Saracens, Ancona declined but recovered its  importance in the Middle Ages; it was one of the five cities of the Maritime  Pentapolis under the Byzantine exarchate of Ravenna. The seat of a Carolingian  march (frontier borderland), it eventually became a semi-independent republic  under papal control; direct papal rule was established in 1532 and, with the  exception of a period of French domination (1797–1816), was maintained until  Ancona became part of Italy in 1860. The city was bombarded by the Austrian  fleet (1915) during World War I and suffered severe damage from Allied bombings  (1943–44) during World War II.

Notable landmarks, restored since the war, include the marble Arch of Trajan (AD  115); the 11th- to 12th-century Church of Santa Maria della Piazza, with an  ornate facade dating from 1210 and remains of 5th- and 7th-century mosaics; and  the 12th- to 13th-century Cathedral of San Ciriaco, which is supposed to occupy  the site of a Roman temple of Venus and incorporates the remains of a basilica  of the 5th–6th century. The city has many fine Gothic buildings and is the site  of the National Museum of Marche, with a valuable archaeological collection and  art gallery, although some local monuments suffered earthquake damage during the  1970s. Ancona is the seat of an archbishop.

The harbour, originally protected only by the elbow-shaped promontory from which  the city takes its name (Greek angkon, “elbow”), has modern installations built  since World War II, including a petroleum refinery. Although Ancona's importance  as a port has diminished, it is a busy market centre, with ships plying between  Italian and Croatian ports on the Adriatic. Ancona is on the main east-coast  rail line from Milan and Bologna to Brindisi and Foggia; it is also connected to  Rome by a main line. Industries include shipbuilding and the manufacture of  machinery, chemicals, medicines, foodstuffs, textiles, furniture, and bricks.  Pop. (2000 est.) mun., 98,329.