The Lazzaretto of Ancona, designed by Luigi Vanvitelli (who also built the Clementine Arch and modernised the Church of Jesus), is a building located on a pentagonal manmade island in the port. Within its walls is a large courtyard, at the centre of which is the neoclassical San Rocco Temple.
The Lazzaretto was built between 1733 and 1743, and was multifunctional right from its conception: it was used as a port warehouse, a place of quarantine and a fortification. Over the centuries it became a military hospital, a sugar refinery, a military citadel, and a tobacco warehouse, until it recently acquired the status of exhibition and cultural space, going on to house the famous and prestigious Omero Museum.
Ss well as being a manmade island looking out over the sea (separated by a canal known as the Mandracchio), the Lazzaretto is directly linked to a fortress located on the hill overlooking it, the Citadel. Furthermore, the structure is located just outside the city’s ancient walls (most of which have been lost), and it is therefore very close to the monumental entrance to the city located nearby, Porta Pia. From here, on the other side, the characteristic Archi District begins. On the mainland, the tracks of the old railway wrap around most of the Lazzaretto, while towards the sea, the building is surrounded by the commercial port, with its silos and cranes. The waters around the Lazzaretto serve Ancona’s large fishing fleet.
The most classic view of the structure is from the rooftop terrace of Largo Casanova, located on the hill overlooking it.
Marche Film Commission — Fondazione Marche Cultura
Piazza Cavour 23 — 60121 Ancona
Phone: +39 071 9951 623/624/625
Email: silvia.pincini@fondazionemarchecultura.it
