Anco'na, the capital of a province in Italy, on a promontory of the Adriatic, 127 miles SE. of Ravenna by rail. Its harbour had become much silted up, but in 1887 was improved and deepened; and it is still the most important seaport between Venice and Brindisi. The manufactures are silk, ships' rigging, leather, tobacco, and soft soap; the exports (declining) are cream-of-tartar, lamb and goat skins, asphalt, bitumen, corn, hemp, coral, and silk. Since 1815, the old citadel was the only fortification until, recently, strong forts were erected on the neighbouring heights. A mole 2000 feet long, built by Trajan, and a triumphal arch of the same emperor, are the most notable antiquities; the cathedral was built in the 11th c. Pop. (1901) 57,000. Founded about 380 b.c. by Syracusans, Ancona was destroyed by the Goths, rebuilt by Narses, and again destroyed by the Saracens in the 10th century. It afterwards became a republic, but in 1532 was annexed to the States of the Church. In 1797 it was taken by the French, but surrendered to the Russians and Austrians. During 1832-38 a French force held it; in 1849 a revolutionary garrison capitulated to the Austrians; and in 1861 it was incorporated in the kingdom of Italy. - The March of Ancona was the name applied to the territory lying between the Adriatic and the Apennines, from Tronto NW. to San Marino.