Republic of Ancona

Perched on Italy's Adriatic coast, the Republic of Ancona was a medieval commune and maritime republic. Its economy thrived on sea trade, especially with the Byzantine Empire and the eastern Mediterranean, though Venetian dominance at sea limited its reach. Ancona maintained strong ties with the Kingdom of Hungary, allied with the Republic of Ragusa, and kept friendly relations with the Ottoman Empire. These connections made it central Italy's main gateway to the East.

Since 774, Ancona had been part of the Papal States. Around the year 1000, it fell under Holy Roman Empire influence, but it gradually gained independence, becoming fully autonomous with the rise of communes in the 11th century, while still under the pope's high authority. Its motto was *Ancon dorica civitas fidei* ("Dorian Ancona, city of faith"), a nod to the city's Greek origins.

Ancona was an oligarchic republic. Six Elders, elected by the city's three districts—S. Pietro, Porto, and Capodimonte—ruled it. The republic had its own maritime laws, the *Statuti del mare e del Terzenale* ("Statutes of the sea and of the arsenal") and *Statuti della Dogana* ("Statutes of the Customs").

The republic maintained *fondachi*—colonies with warehouses and lodging—in Constantinople, Alexandria, and other eastern Mediterranean ports. Goods brought by land, especially textiles and spices, were sorted by merchants from Lucca and Florence. In Constantinople, the Anconitans had their own church, Saint Stephen, and in 1261 they gained the right to a chapel in Hagia Sophia. Other *fondachi* were in Syria (Laiazzo and Laodicea), Romania (Constanța), Egypt (Alexandria), Cyprus (Famagusta), Palestine (San Giovanni d'Acri), Greece (Chios), and Asia Minor (Trebizond). Westward, warehouses existed in Ragusa and Segna on the Adriatic, Syracuse and Messina in Sicily, Barcelona and Valencia in Spain, and Tripoli in Africa.

Ancona's coinage first appears in records from the 12th century, when the city's growing independence allowed it to mint coins without imperial or papal approval. The *agontano*, a large silver coin 18–22 mm in diameter and weighing 2.04–2.42 grams, was its currency during its golden age. Later, less famously, it minted a gold *Agnoto*, or Ancona Ducat, with surviving specimens from the 15th and 16th centuries, until the city lost its independence in 1532.

Anconan art was shaped by maritime links to Dalmatia and the Levant. Its major medieval monuments blend Romanesque and Byzantine styles, notably the Duomo, with a Greek cross and Byzantine sculptures, and the church of Santa Maria di Portonovo. In the 14th century, Ancona became a center of what some call the "Adriatic Renaissance," a movement in Dalmatia, Venice, and the Marches that rediscovered classical art while continuing Gothic traditions. Architect and sculptor Giorgio da Sebenico was a key figure; painter Carlo Crivelli was his counterpart.

Navigator and archaeologist Cyriacus of Ancona came from a prominent merchant family. A restless traveler and humanist, he is called the Father of Archaeology: he was the most enterprising and prolific recorder of Greek and Roman antiquities, especially inscriptions, in the 15th century, and his accuracy earned him that title. Fellow humanists named him "father of the antiquities," and he made contemporaries aware of the Parthenon, Delphi, the Pyramids, the Sphinx, and other famous ancient monuments thought lost. Another navigator, Grazioso Benincasa, born in Ancona, was the best-known Italian maritime cartographer of the 15th century, author of several portolan charts of the Mediterranean.

After 1000, Ancona grew increasingly independent, becoming an important maritime republic that often clashed with nearby Venice. It had to guard against both the Holy Roman Empire and the papacy. It rarely launched offensive wars against rival republics but frequently defended itself. Venice never subdued Ancona, despite military expeditions, trade wars, and naval blockades. Ancona also resisted the Holy Roman Empire three times: besieged by Emperor Lothair II in 1137, by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1167, and again in 1174. That year, Christian I, archbishop of Mainz and the emperor's archchancellor, joined Venice to besiege the city but was forced to retreat. The Venetians deployed many galleys and the galleon *Totus Mundus* in Ancona's port, while imperial troops laid siege by land. After months of dramatic resistance, the Anconitans sent a small contingent to Emilia-Romagna for help. Troops from Ferrara and Bertinoro arrived, saved the city, and repelled the imperial and Venetian forces in battle. In the struggles between popes and Holy Roman emperors that troubled Italy from the 12th century, Ancona sided with the Guelphs. Originally called *Communitas Anconitana* (Latin for "Anconitan community"), it had *de facto* independence.