PALACES

Palazzo degli Anziani, named after the Council of Elders of the Republic of Ancona, used to be the seat of the city magistrates since the early Middle Ages.

The origins of the palace are ancient: it was built by Galla Placidia, a Roman governor in 425 AD. The Palace has suffered fires and bombings and has been frequently rebuilt and restored.

Stone from Mount Conero was used to renovate the foundations in 1270. In 1348, a devastating fire almost destroyed the Palace: a new seat for the Council had to be built, thus the Palazzo del Governo.

After being restored, Palazzo degli Anziani was the official seat of the city council until 1947. During World War II, the Palace was again damaged, and the council had to move to Palazzo del Popolo.

Palazzo degli Anziani used to house the Art Gallery “F. Podesti”, then the Faculty of Economics and Commerce of the Università Politecnica delle Marche. After the faculty moved to Caserma Villarey in 1998, the Palace remained vacant.

After another round of renovations, on November 21st, 2011, the City Council moved back to Palazzo degli Anziani, where it convenes ever since.

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The Palazzo del Governo, seat of the Prefecture since the Unification of Italy, dominates Piazza del Plebiscito. It was built in the second half of 14th century, after a fire in 1348 had devastated Palazzo degli Anziani on Guasco Hill, which was seat of the city government.

The civic tower was rebuilt in 1581.

The clock was added in 1611, and it was equipped, in 1806, with a chime by master clockmaker Antonio Podrini from Sant’Angelo in Vado, that plays a melody at midday. The painted wooden ceiling was crafted by Melozzo da Forlì; unfortunately an earthquake in 1690 destroyed most of the decorations.

The palace was remodeled after 1690: the roof and the eaves were lowered. In 1827 further renovation was carried out.

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Built in the 13th century, the Palazzo del Senato (Palace of the Senate), formerly know as Palazzo dei Pilestri, stands in the eponymous square, which might also be the location of the Roman forum.

The Palace was built to house the Senatorial Council, when the Comune sold its previous seat (today’s “Palazzo Arcivescovile”) to the Cortesi family.

It has been restored after devastating bombings: the frames of the windows are original, while the mullions were restored in 1952.

Today, the palace is the seat of the Soprintendenza Belle Arti e Paesaggio of Le Marche region (the government deparment responsible for monuments and the environment).

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Owned by the “Pozzolongo” branch of the Ferretti family, the Palazzo Arcivescovile (Archbishop’s Palace) has been the seat of the Episcopate since 1827, when it was moved from its previous location, a palace next to the Cathedral, following a landslide. The Palace blends Medieval, Renaissance and 18th-century styles.

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The Palazzo Jona project is attributed to the architect Luigi Vanvitelli, although some historians attribute it to Ciaraffoni. The construction of the building dates back to the century. XVIII. Perhaps the marriage of a representative of the Moscheni family, which took place on October 10, 1756, could have been the occasion for the renewal. The interior of the building was decorated by the painter Giuseppe Pallavicini.

Until about the mid-eighteenth century, the palace belonged to Francesco Moscheni. After the marriage of Moscheni’s daughter with the Marquis Francesco Millo, nephew of Cardinal Millo, former secretary of Cardinal Lambertini then Pope Benedict XIV, he was referred to by the name of the latter family. Then it passed to the Bourbon del Monte and finally to the Jona family.

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Palazzo Moroder was built in the heart of the bulwark of San Pietro, erected in the 17th century. Living testimony remains on the first level of the garden where the vestiges of a section of the original walls are still found.

A crucial moment for the Palace was the Second World War when the building, after 8 September 1943 and the bombing of the city, which led to the displacement of families, first gave hospitality to Polish soldiers, to English ones and finally to Italian soldiers . In the cellars of Palazzo Moroder, at number 14, the public refuge of Largo Belvedere n. 14 of the Municipality of Ancona.

It was by the will of the Podestà Cavalier Riccardo Moroder, who belonged to one of the most important families of Ancona that the building was erected with the fundamental contribution that was given to its construction by the engineer Gino Costanzi, who was the designer.

Its construction is part of the housing history of the fascist municipal ruling class, which began in 1921. Populated by the families of municipal employees, Palazzo Moroder-Costanzi became much more than a set of houses. The building was immediately a place of sociality and sharing between the condominiums. A real community.

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The palace of the Ferretti counts was built, incorporating a section of the ancient thirteenth-century walls that flanked the current square into the structures. It is probably the extension of a primitive building erected close to the inner part of the walls, but there is no documentation to confirm this. The new construction also affects the old moat which becomes part of the basement floors of the building.

The palace is being renovated, probably to complete the decorations.

The small west body is built, it is likely that it is the recast of a small unit (perhaps terraced) that already existed, or the saturation of a small lot that has remained unbuilt.

The Ferretti family sells the building to the Municipality of Ancona.

The nine-level book tower located on the north-west side was built.

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The Loggia dei Mercanti is a symbol of the mercantile soul of the city of Ancona. Located in the center, near the port, it is difficult not to notice it, as imposing as it is and full of decorative details. The merchants transacted their trades there.

Designed by the architect Giovanni Pace in 1442, the external facade, in Venetian Gothic style, the work of the architect Giorgio da Sebenico, is opened by three arches; four columns are surmounted by statues representing Hope, Fortitude, Justice and Charity. Inside there is a large hall and a basement which houses a small room named after the painter Pellegrino Tibaldi. Both host events and meetings and for some time now it has been possible to celebrate civil weddings there.

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Originally from the sixteenth century, it was renovated in the eighteenth century without undergoing particular transformations. Various decorative elements are still appreciable on the ground floor. The unfinished facade is characterized by a severe ashlar portal in white limestone like the corner pieces. It is one of the very few Ancona buildings that have preserved the roof terrace, a loggia-shaped building on the roof.

The Camerata family, originally from the city of Bergamo, had settled in Ancona in the sixteenth century and in 1596, as can be deduced from a manuscript by Albertini, had two “possessions”, relating to two branches of the family. The building was destroyed in the air raids suffered by the city in 1943-44. Maggiore (1821) and the Ancona Guide of 1884 noted the prestigious collection of paintings, from which the Immaculate Conception by Guercino and the replica of the original kept in the Galleria Borghese in Rome came to the “Francesco Podesti” Civic Art Gallery. of the Virgin with Child and San Giovannino, by Andrea del Sarto.

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