Ancon

“ Anco ́na, a seaport of Italy, capital of the province of the same name, on the Adriatic, 130 miles N.E. of Rome, with harbour works begun by Trajan, who built the ancient mole or quay. A triumphal arch of white marble, erected in honour of Trajan, stands on the mole. Ancona is a station of the Italian fleet, and the commerce is increasing. The town is indifferently built, but has some remarkable edifices, among others, the cathedral. There is a colossal statue of Count Cavour. Ancona is said to have been founded about four centuries B.C., by Syracusan refugees. ”

“ We quitted Ancona at five in the morning, passing no fewer than three distinct dogana, at each of which we were overhauled, though fortunately without paying any duty. I found a trifling bribe go farther than a boat-load of quiet civility or resignation, a papal custom-house officer being devoid of all feeling save the modicum existing in his palms, which when tickled with a small coin, generally expand to the traveller’s advantage. ”

“ Of the poor wretches who assembled that day, swarms had 261 perished ere the close of the next; but there is, not far from Ancona, a small town or village, whose name I forget, which escaped the pestilence by reason of a miracle performed by its patron saint, the details of which Capt. de V——l saw on a printed affiche. When disposed to avert evil from his native place, the saint pushes up the lid of his heavy tomb, and agitates above it his hands streaming with blood. ”

“ Ancona, says John Yeardley, is beautifully situated on the side of a high hill, in appearance at a distance a perfect model of Scarborough. There are in the place a good many Greeks, one of whom Argyri recognised as we inquired at his shop the way to the Post-office. On returning she made herself known to him, and he shows us every attention; he is a fine looking man, with a countenance as strong as brass. We are comfortably lodged, with a delightful view of the harbor, but our hearts are in Corfu. ”

“ Here a merchant's son, a learned churchman, and a rich nobleman, welcomed an Assisan labourer in their midst with the simple brotherly love which was to be the keynote of the franciscan order. After the reception of Egidio we are told that Francis went with him to the Marches of Ancona, "singing glorious praises of the Lord of heaven and earth" as they travelled along the dusty roads. ”

“ As a landed proprietor, the count was naturally pleased at these encomiums on his tenantry; but he somewhat damped our ardour by assuring us that [94] we must look upon the contadini we had just quitted not as specimens of the whole race, but exceptions. “Through all the Pope's States,” he said, “the country people round Ancona are remarked as being generally good and well-conducted; but if you go only a short distance into the interior, a great difference is perceptible; and beginning at Loretto, which is only twenty miles from here, they are all noted for their implacability and revenge.” ”

“ It is only those whom no one esteems who are really clever.
Any historical retrospections I also purposely left aside, as out of keeping to the purpose I had in hand, and not likely to interest the generality of readers, overdone with “the Italian question.” The condition of the Roman States, however, has of late been so widely discussed and inquired into, that I believe an outline of the history of Ancona, and the provinces adjoining it, will now be found interesting, though with reference to the events of last summer and autumn, much minuteness of detail is purposely avoided. ”

“ The good Carmelites, too, if our self-pride did not greatly mislead us, marked this day with a white stone; and long after the pursuits and interests of a busier life have dimmed its recollections with the majority of their guests, will continue to treasure every incident of their visit.
My leave-taking of the good monks of Jesi was soon followed by a long farewell to Ancona and its kindly people. ”

“ As you may all have heard, there come oftentimes to our city governors from the Marches of Ancona, who are commonly mean-spirited folk and so paltry and sordid of life that their every fashion seemeth nought other than a lousy cadger's trick ”

“ The said Bull passed all the Consistory; and being confirmed and received by the said Portugals, they began some of them to depart to live in Ancona, being a sea-port more commodious then others: which being known by the King and Cardinal of Portugal, they caused to be proclaimed in all the Kingdome, that upon paine of death, and losse of all their goods, no man should dare depart the Kingdome. ”

“ LORETO TO THE BATHS OF LUCCA
On the Wednesday after dinner I travelled through a fertile open country of a varied character, and after a journey of fifteen miles I arrived at Ancona in time for supper. Ancona is the capital of the Marches, which district was called by the Latins Picænum. The city is populous, swarming especially with Greeks, Turks, and Sclavonians, and a busy place of traffic. It is well built, flanked on either side by lofty hills, which project into the sea, one of these being occupied by a strong fort, by which we entered, and the [Pg 2] other by a church. ”

“ The archbishop Christian arrived before Ancona in the beginning of April, 1174, and invested the city with an army levied among the Ghibellines of Tuscany and Umbria. The people of Ancona repulsed their attack with their accustomed bravery. But hunger, more formidable than the sword, soon menaced them. The preceding harvests had failed; their granaries were empty; and an enemy’s fleet closed their port. They saw the harvest ripen, without the possibility of a single sack of corn reaching them. All human subsistence was soon exhausted ”

“ While the French besieged Rome, the Austrians had not been idle. They took Bologna in May, after eight days' resistance; and in June, after twenty days' attack by sea and land, Ancona fell into their hands. In these towns they pursued means of 'pacification' resembling those employed at Brescia. All who possessed what by a fiction could be called arms were summarily slaughtered. At Ancona, a woman of bad character hid a rusty nail in the bed of her husband, whom she wished to get rid of ”

“ After much difficulty, we have concluded a written contract with an Italian voiturier to take us to Ancona. May our Divine Keeper, in his infinite mercy, grant us protection and safety, even in the hands of ungodly men!
The journey to Ancona took them seventeen days; they crossed the Alps by the Simplon, and traversed Italy through Milan and Bologna. Martha Yeardley touches upon a few points of the journey in a letter to Elizabeth Dudley. ”

“ After the fall of the Roman empire Ancona was successively attacked by the Goths, Lombards and Saracens, but recovered its strength and importance. It was one of the cities of the Pentapolis under the exarchate of Ravenna, the other four being Fano, Pesaro, Senigallia and Rimini, and eventually became a semi-independent republic under the protection of the popes, until Gonzaga took possession of it for Clement VII. in 1532. ”

“ But there were few like him in Ancona. I could count on my fingers, without passing those of one hand even, such amongst the Codino nobles as entered with any earnestness into the Novena. The dominant feeling with persons who still held belief in their religion, yet whose judgment was not denied its exercise, was profound regret at the whole proceeding ”

“ Political condition of Ancona—Arrogance of the Austrian General—Strictness of the martial law—A man shot on the denunciation of his wife—Application of the stick—Republican excesses—Proneness to assassination—Infernal Association in 1849.
Except passingly I have not yet touched upon the political condition of Ancona. This town, ever since June, 1849, had been occupied by a large Austrian force, holding it in the Pope's name, and ostensibly for the maintenance of his authority.
Never was a garrison more overbearing, or less popular. ”

“ Did the people of these districts still remember the appeals which Francis and Egidio had made to them six years before (1209) , or must we believe that they were peculiarly prepared to understand the new gospel? However this may be, nowhere else was a like enthusiasm shown; the effect of the sermons was so great that some thirty neophytes at once received the habit of the Order.
The March of Ancona ought to be held to be the Franciscan province par excellence. ”

“ The hills and declivities are there cut out into terraces, and cultivated with garden husbandry in as perfect style as in the mountains of Tuscany. The marches of Ancona contain 426,222 inhabitants, spread over 2111 square miles, which is about 200 to the square mile; but, considering how large a part of the territory is barren rock, the proportion on the fertile parts is about 300 to the square mile, while the average of England is only 260. The soil is cultivated to the depth of two and three feet. ”

“ ANCONA, a seaport and episcopal see of the Marches, Italy, capital of the province of Ancona, situated on the N.E. coast of Italy, 185 m. N.E. of Rome by rail and 132 m. direct, and 127 m. S.E. of Bologna. Pop. ”

“ It is not yet ended: England and France still swarm with unfortunate exiles—the better portion of the insurgents, who sigh to return to their country, but who will not in hardship and banishment, make those sacrifices of principle which would at once restore them to rank and wealth.
The occupation of Ancona by the French is an event quite distinct from the insurrection of Romagna, though our vague recollections confuse them together. Abandoned by the French, hemmed in by an Austrian army, the insurgents had surrendered, and the pontifical flag again waved over the citadel of Ancona. ”

“ Picturesque environs of Ancona—Dwellings of the peasantry—Their simplicity and trust—Manner of life and amusements—A wedding feast.
By way of an agreeable contrast to the patrician associations which surrounded us, we used in our walks to take great interest in noticing the peasantry or contadini of the environs; and circumstances having protracted my stay beyond what was originally intended, I was enabled, when the lovely month of April invited us to longer excursions, to see a good deal of their primitive mode of life. ”

“ It is approached by a beautiful road which follows the curve of the bay from the opposite point of Capo Pesaro, and built upon a promontory that runs boldly into the sea, can be descried from a considerable distance. The first impression the aspect of Ancona produces upon the traveller is favourable in the extreme. ”

“ ANCONA, ALESSANDRO (1835–⁠) , Italian critic and man of letters, was born at Pisa on the 20th of February 1835, of a wealthy Jewish family, and educated in Florence; at the age of eighteen he published his essay on the life and work of the philosopher Tommaso Campanella. In 1855 Ancona went to Turin, nominally to study law, but in reality to act as intermediary between the Tuscan Liberals and Cavour ”

“ Above another door Girolamo Gamberato painted "The Doge landing at Ancona with the Pope and the Emperor {350} after the Reconciliation." Tradition teaches that on this occasion the people of Ancona came out to meet their visitors bringing umbrellas or canopies for the Pope and the Emperor only, and Alexander ordered a third to be brought for Ziani, who, under God, had been the means of establishing this peace. ”

“ Convinced that they alone were on the path of salvation, they would not be forced back into the Order. On the death of Liberato, Angelo was chosen as their leader, and amid persecution and obloquy they formed a congregation in the Mark of Ancona, known as the Clareni, from the surname of their chief, and under the protection of the cardinal, Napoleone Orsini. ”

“ FRATRICELLI. Certain heretics of Italy, who had their rise in the marquisate of Ancona, about 1294. They were most of them apostate monks, under a superior, called Pongiloup. They drew women after them on pretence of devotion, and were accused of uncleanness with them in their nocturnal meetings. They were charged with maintaining a community of wives and goods, and denying magistracy. Abundance of libertines flocked after them, because they countenanced their licentious way of living. ”

“ ACCOLTI, PIETRO (1455–1532) , brother of the preceding, known as the cardinal of Ancona, was born in Florence on the 15th of March 1455, and died at Rome on the 12th of December 1532 (Ciaconi, Vitae Pontificum, 1677, iii. 295) . He was made bishop of Ancona, 1505, and cardinal on the 17th of March 1511, by Julius II. He was abbreviator under Leo X., and in that capacity drew up in 1520 the bull against Luther (L. Cardella, Memorie Storiche de’ Cardinali, 1793, iii. 450) . ”

“ THE THIRD CONTINENTAL JOURNEY.
1833-4.
PART II.--GREECE
On the 21st of the Eleventh Month John and Martha Yeardley left Ancona, and had a safe but suffering voyage of two days to Corfu, the capital of the island of that name.
The atmosphere in this place, writes J. Y., soon after they landed, is different from Ancona in every respect. It has to us a feeling of home, and our minds are clothed with peace and, I trust, gratitude to the Father of mercies. What we may find to do is yet a secret to us, but He who has brought us here will in his own time open the way before us. ”

“ The Jesuit colleges nearest Ancona are at Loretto, a distance of twenty miles; and at Fano, about thirty miles off, in an opposite direction. At the former place also, the French Dames du Sacré Cœur have a convent for young ladies, embracing much the same line of principles. It cannot be denied that, as respects general accomplishments and ladylike deportment, their pupils infinitely surpass those of all other conventual establishments in the country ”