The area of Passetto di Ancona grew up in the 1960s. Its centre is Piazza IV Novembre, home to the Monument to the Fallen of World War I, located at the end of Viale della Vittoria, which is connected to the Beach of the Passetto below by two wide sets of steps. The monument was designed in the 1920s by Guido Cirilli in the shape of a circular temple characterised by an elegantly reinvented Doric order. The structure has eight grooved columns and sits atop a set of concentric stairs circling it, made entirely from Istrian stone. The base is decorated with motifs of helmets and swords, the symbols of defence and attack. At the centre sits a small altar. The top of the monument bears verses by Giacomo Leopardi: “O ye, forever blessed/Who bared your breasts unto the foreman’s lance/For love of her, who gave you birth”.
The area is home to a stretch of high coast that offers an extensive view of the sea and the cliffs from the main public places and most of the private dwellings. A distinctive feature of this stretch of coastline are the 100+ caves carved out of the rock between the mid-19th century and the 1960s, originally used to house boats. Their coloured gates, boatyards and fishing equipment make the place very picturesque. Many of the materials used were salvage items: railway sleepers prop up slipway ladders, tiles of various types and colours are used as flooring, and furniture thrown away from city homes have been repainted and repurposed.
Marche Film Commission — Fondazione Marche Cultura
Piazza Cavour 23 — 60121 Ancona
Phone: +39 071 9951 623/624/625
Email: silvia.pincini@fondazionemarchecultura.it
