Republic of Ancona

The Republic of Ancona was a medieval commune and maritime republic on the Adriatic coast of modern-day Italy, notable for its economic development and maritime trade, particularly with the Byzantine Empire and Eastern Mediterranean, although somewhat confined by Venetian supremacy on the sea. It enjoyed excellent relations with the Kingdom of Hungary, was an ally of the Republic of Ragusa, and maintained good relations with the Ottoman Empire. All these relationships enabled it to serve as central Italy's gateway to the Orient.

Included in the Papal States since 774, Ancona came under the influence of the Holy Roman Empire around 1000, but gradually gained independence to become fully independent with the coming of the communes in the 11th century, under the high jurisdiction of the papal state. Its motto was Ancon dorica civitas fidei ('Dorian Ancona, city of faith'), referencing the Greek foundation of the city.

Ancona was an oligarchic republic ruled by six Elders, elected by the three terzieri into which the city was divided: S. Pietro, Porto and Capodimonte. It had a series of maritime laws known as Statuti del mare e del Terzenale ('Statutes of the sea and of the arsenal') and Statuti della Dogana ('Statutes of the Customs').

The fondachi (colonies with warehouses and accommodation buildings) of the Republic of Ancona were continuously active in Constantinople, Alexandria and other Eastern Mediterranean ports, while the sorting of goods imported by land (especially textiles and spices) fell to the merchants of Lucca and Florence.

In Constantinople there was perhaps the most important fondaco, where the Anconitans had their own church, Saint Stephen; in 1261 they were granted the privilege of having a chapel in the St. Sophia. Other Anconitan fondachi were in Syria (in Laiazzo and Laodicea), in Romania (in Constanţa), in Egypt (in Alexandria), in Cyprus (in Famagusta), in Palestine (in San Giovanni d'Acri), in Greece (in Chios), in Asia Minor (in Trebizond). Moving to the west, Anconitan warehouses were present in the Adriatic in Ragusa and Segna, in Sicily in Syracuse and Messina, in Spain in Barcelona and Valencia, and in Africa in Tripoli.

The first reports of Ancona's medieval coinage begin in the 12th century when the independence of the city grew and it began to mint coinage without Imperial or papal oversight. The agontano was the currency used by Republic of Ancona during its golden age. It was a large silver coin of 18–22 mm in diameter and a weight of 2.04–2.42 grams.

Later and less famously Ancona began minting a gold Agnoto coin, also known as the Ancona Ducat. Specimens of this coin have survived from the 15th and 16th centuries, until the cities loss of independence in 1532.

Anconitan art had long been influenced by maritime relations with Dalmatia and the Levant.