Duomo of Ancona.
I only knew the cathedral of Ancona from a beautiful fresco by Pinturicchio in the Libreria Piccolomini in Siena. The fresco shows us how Pope Pius II (1458-1464) arrives in the city to take charge of a crusade against the Turks. In the background, high on the Colle Guasco, the Duomo of Ancona is visible, although the building that Pinturicchio painted does not look much like the real cathedral. Pius’ crusade had basically already failed before it was launched. Only a handful of men and even fewer ships had gathered in Ancona, and the pope – already terminally ill – passed away on 14 August 1464. His heart was buried in the local cathedral and should still be there, although his body was taken to Rome and his tomb can currently be admired in the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle in the Eternal City. It was Pinturicchio’s fresco that made me want to see the cathedral of Ancona in the flesh, and in the summer of 2024 an opportunity presented itself. It was a tough climb to the summit of the Colle Guasco, especially because of the high temperatures (38 degrees Celsius), but we got much in return for our effort. The Duomo is an interesting building and the view from the hill is marvellous.
From temple to church
In Antiquity the hilltop was the site of the acropolis of Ankon (Ἀγκών), a Greek city that had been founded around the year 387 BCE by colonists from Syracuse on Sicily. They built a temple on the hill, dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite, who was called Venus in the Roman era. It is quite possible that she was nicknamed Euplea (Εὔπλοια), “of the safe journey”, and was considered a protectress of sailors. In those days the port of Ancona was already of great importance. The precise dating and appearance of the temple are still subject to debate, but in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale delle Marche in the city one can find a very good scale model that gives an impression of what the temple might have looked like. Excavations in 1932 and 1948 provided evidence for the presence of remains of the temple below the current Duomo. Visitors can see these remains if they descend into the crypt below the right transept. There are no doubt also possibilities to explore the archaeological section as part of a guided tour, but apparently there were such tours on the day that we visited Ancona.
The Duomo with its freestanding bell-tower.
View of Ancona.
Scale model of the temple of Venus.
In the fifth or sixth century a Christian church was built over the temple. This may have happened after the Gothic war (535-554). The church was dedicated to Saint Lawrence, who was very popular in Italy. The saint is known for his horrific martyrdom: according to tradition he was roasted alive on a gridiron in the year 258. Although undeniably important, this San Lorenzo was not the cathedral of Ancona. The cathedral was the Santo Stefano, dedicated to the protomartyr of the new Christian religion. Inside the Santo Stefano a rock was kept that was said to have been used during the execution of Saint Stephen. Although there is still some discussion about the site of the original cathedral, several scholars assume that it was located on the spot where we now find the church of Santa Maria della Piazza. According to an information panel in the Duomo this has now been proven by studi approfonditi (in-depth studies). Indeed, the crypt of the Santa Maria della Piazza has interesting mosaics from the fourth to sixth centuries which seem to support the hypothesis that this is the place where the first cathedral of Ancona stood.
From church to cathedral
The church of San Lorenzo was presumably rebuilt after an earthquake and an Arab attack on Ancona in the ninth century. At the end of the tenth or beginning of the eleventh century the San Lorenzo was granted the status of new cathedral of the city. As the 1000th anniversary of the cathedral was celebrated in 1999 and 2000, these years are apparently considered the “years of birth”. However, when it was consecrated as cathedral the San Lorenzo was also enlarged, and this renovation was only completed in 1017. It follows that the festivities could also have been held in 2017. 1017 was also the year that the relics of the patron saints of Ancona were translated to the new cathedral. The most important among these saints was Cyriacus. According to tradition he was a Jew whose original name was Judas and who knew where the cross used in the crucifixion of Jesus had been buried. When Helena, the mother of the emperor Constantine, visited the Holy Land in 326-327, Judas initially refused to disclose the location of the True Cross. He was then thrown down a well without food and drink. This proved to be effective, as Judas gave the information after all, which led to the discovery of the True Cross. Impressed by what had happened, Judas converted to Christianity and took the name Cyriacus (“of the Lord”).
Colle Guasco with the Duomo.
View behind the Duomo.
This story sounds more than a little incredible. It gets even worse when we read that Cyriacus subsequently served as both bishop of Ancona and of Jerusalem. This is all very unlikely, as is his alleged martyrdom during the reign of the emperor Julianus the Apostate (361-363), the last pagan emperor of the Roman Empire. Although Julianus loathed Christians, he was clever enough not to persecute them. But no matter how incredible the story of Saint Cyriacus might sound, his popularity in Ancona did not suffer. Somewhere in the thirteenth or fourteenth century this popularity had become so great that the cathedral of San Lorenzo was formally rededicated to San Cyriaco. In the centuries before that the Duomo had already been thoroughly remodelled. Under the direction of one magister Philippus the original cathedral had been converted into the transept of a much larger cathedral at the end of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth century. The Duomo now had the shape of a Greek cross, with the entrance in the southwest instead of the southeast. One special feature of the building was its dome, a typically Byzantine element on a church that was predominantly Romanesque.
Portal and portico (protiro).
Sober interior of the Duomo.
The revamped Duomo was provided with a beautifully sculpted portal that is attributed to Giorgio da Como (photo above). In front of the cathedral a portico or protiro was erected, said to be the work of Margaritone d’Arezzo (ca. 1240-1290). I only knew Margaritone as a painter, but apparently he was also active as an architect. Sometimes the dome of the cathedral is also attributed to him, but this attribution is debated, to say the least. The Duomo has a freestanding bell-tower. Originally the building was a defensive tower on the hill, which was presumably converted into a campanile at the start of the fourteenth century. This also explains why the tower is not neatly aligned with the cathedral, but stands slightly at an angle. The Duomo has not entirely preserved its shape of a Greek cross: in the fourteenth or fifteenth century a choir was added on the northeast side.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the cathedral was renovated by three different architects. The first was Luigi Vanvitelli (1700-1773), who among other things erected the aedicule in the left transept in which the miraculous Madonna del Duomo is kept. Then the local – and Jewish – architect Niccolò Matas (1798-1872) got to work. One of his contributions was cladding the dome of the building with a new layer of green copper. The last architect was Giuseppe Sacconi (1854-1905), who gave the cathedral back its medieval appearance. Unfortunately the cathedral was severely damaged during both World Wars, in 1915 by an Austrian naval bombardment and in 1943 by an Allied aerial bombardment. This led to the loss of valuable works of art, among other things (in 1915) a fresco by Piero della Francesca (ca. 1415-1492), a painter who had already immortalised the Finding of the True Cross in Arezzo and had included Judas/Cyriacus there. Another work that was lost (in 1943) was a painting featuring the martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, a work by the local painter Francesco Podesti (1800-1895). In the cathedral we now find a copy. The infamous 1972 earthquake fortunately did not cause much damage, although the Duomo did remain closed to the public until 1977.
Things to see
I must say the exterior of the Duomo is much more interesting than its interior. Both Giorgio da Como’s portal and Margaritone d’Arezzo’s portico are strikingly beautiful. The Gothic arches of the portal have been provided with sophisticated reliefs, in which we recognise both human and non-human figures. Some of the animals we see are actually fantasy animals, of which the unicorn armed with an axe (?) and a shield is rather unique. The most conspicuous elements of Margaritone’s portico are of course the two lions made of red Verona marble. Do not forget to inspect the apse of the left transept, which has been embellished with several animal heads. Apart from animals that are not unusual, such as rams, I also noted a number of elephant heads. Apparently the elephant was somewhat popular in Ancona, as I had already met it when I visited the church of Santa Maria della Piazza.
Cripta dei Santi Protettori.
The interior of the Duomo is very sober (see the photo above). Visitors who explore the building clockwise will first enter the raised Cappella della Madonna in the left transept, which can be reached by a staircase. In this chapel the Madonna del Duomo is kept, who is said to have opened her eyes and smiled in 1796. Because of her intervention Napoleon’s French reportedly abstained from pillaging the cathedral. Underneath the chapel is the Cripta dei Santi Protettori, where the body of Saint Cyriacus has been enshrined. Above the door to the sacristy we meet Cyriacus again, this time in a painting by the fairly unknown Luca d’Ancona (see the photo above). The painting represents the Madonna and Child, with Saint Cyriacus on the left (as Quiriacus) and Saint Primianus on the right, both dressed as bishops. Primianus is also traditionally considered a bishop of Ancona, although his historicity is disputed. Luca d’Ancona’s painting dates from 1520; the year is mentioned in the work. It is one of the very few paintings in the Duomo.
In the right transept we find the Cappella del Crocifisso, which can once again be reached by a staircase. The chapel has a balustrade consisting of plutei which are said to date from 1189 and are attributed to one magister Leonardus. In making the plutei the sgraffito technique was used. This involves using chisels and drills to carve and scratch out drawings in marble, which are then filled with black stucco. From left to right the left pluteus features King David, the Virgin Mary, the archangel Gabriel, Saint John the Evangelist, the prophets Jeremiah and Habakkuk, and lastly Saint Cyriacus. The right pluteus in its turn has images of animals. We see phoenixes, eagles, peacocks and griffins.
Pluteus by magister Leonardus.
Underneath the chapel the Cripta delle Lacrime (Crypt of the Tears) is situated, where some of Ancona’s bishops were buried. In the crypt I also found the so-called “pluteus of Lambertus”, which was named after the man who was bishop of the city in the middle of the twelfth century. This pluteus originally comes from the left transept. Depicted on it are a bishop – presumably Cyriacus – and a second figure with a turibulum or incense burner. He is referred to as Stephanos. Although the Latin alphabet is used, his name is remarkably given in Greek. Medieval Ancona clearly preserved its Greek origins.
Pluteus of Lambertus.
Sources: Bradt travel guide Umbria & the Marche (2021), p. 225, San Ciriaco: the Cathedral with a breathtaking view | Ancona Tourism and Duomo di Ancona – Wikipedia