Ancona · Go deeper
Where to live
Ancona wraps around its harbour and climbs its headland: the old port and historic centre rise to the cathedral on the hill, the flatter commercial district spreads inland, and the elegant seafront and coastal quarters face the Adriatic. Each one sits at a different height above the water.
The harbour and historic centre
Centro Storico
mid, atmosphericThe old heart of Ancona, climbing from the working harbour up the Guasco hill to the great Romanesque cathedral of San Ciriaco, past Roman ruins and the medieval lanes. It's atmospheric, characterful, and central, close to the port and the life of the city, a real, un-touristy old town. The trade is that it's a working port district: mixed, a little gritty, and steep, with condition varying street to street.
Best for: those who want to live in the historic, harbour-side heart with its Greek and Roman layers
Learn more about the historic heart
Ancona was Greek before it was Italian. Settlers from Syracuse founded it around 387 BC, and they named it for the shape of its harbour: ankon, the Greek word for an elbow, the bend of the headland that shelters the port to this day. The Romans made it a great naval base, and when the emperor Trajan enlarged the harbour around 115 AD, the city thanked him with the Arch of Trajan, a tall white marble gateway still standing on the mole, one of the best-preserved Roman arches anywhere.
Crowning the hill above the old town is the cathedral of San Ciriaco, a Romanesque church completed in the twelfth century on the very spot where a Greek temple to Aphrodite once stood: Greek, Roman, and Christian layered on one summit, with the sea on three sides. To live in Ancona’s centre is to live in a working port that has been trading across this water for two and a half thousand years, wearing its long history plainly rather than prettily.
The central district
Il Piano & the centre (around Piazza Cavour)
mid, practicalThe flatter, everyday central district inland from the harbour, around Piazza Cavour and Corso Garibaldi, with the main shops, offices, markets, and services. It's the practical commercial heart where much of daily Ancona happens, well-connected and central without the port-side grit. Mixed housing, steady value, and everything to hand.
Best for: those wanting a practical, central, well-served base in the working city
The seafront and coast
Passetto & the seafront
premiumAncona's elegant clifftop seafront, up above the city, with the grand Passetto monument, the sweeping Adriatic views, and the famous beach reached by staircases and the little cliff-carved boat caves below. It's the most desirable and priciest place to live: airy, refined, and by the sea. The trade is cost and the height above the working centre.
Best for: those wanting sea views, elegance, and the beach on the doorstep
Pietralacroce, Posatora & the hill districts
mid, residential valueThe residential districts spreading along the hills and the coast beyond the centre, Pietralacroce toward the Conero riviera, Posatora and the outer quarters, with newer housing, more space, gardens, and sea or hill views, at gentler prices than the seafront. Calmer and more suburban, this is where many families settle, a bus ride from the centre. The trade is the distance and needing a car for some of it.
Best for: families and residents wanting space, views, and value away from the centre
Rough tiers are indicative and move with the market. Check current listings on Immobiliare ›