Ancona is the capital of Marche, about 100,000 people on a headland on the Adriatic, and it is primarily known to travellers as a ferry port: services run from here to Croatia, Greece, Albania and Turkey, and a great many people pass through without looking up. The name comes from the Greek ankon, meaning elbow, which is what the promontory does, producing the only significant north-facing harbour on this coast.
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The town deserves better than a transit stop. The Cathedral of San Ciriaco sits on the summit of Monte Guasco, where a Greek and then Roman acropolis stood, and it is a Romanesque church with Byzantine and Gothic elements, a dodecagonal dome and a view over the whole port. The Arch of Trajan stands on the ancient mole below, put up in AD 115 when Trajan enlarged the harbour, and the Lazzaretto, an eighteenth century pentagonal quarantine station by Vanvitelli, sits on the waterfront.
The real draw, though, is immediately south. Monte Conero rises 572 metres straight out of the sea, and the coast beneath it is the only cliffed stretch on an otherwise flat Adriatic: white limestone, pine and holm oak, and a series of small beaches, some reachable only by boat or by a steep path. Portonovo, Sirolo and Numana are the villages, and the Due Sorelle rock stacks are the emblem.
This guide covers the town, the Conero, the seasons, safety and the full packing list.
The Town, and the Ferry
Ancona is small, steep and best seen on foot in half a day, which fits neatly around a ferry.
Walk up to San Ciriaco for the view and the interior, then down through the old town past Santa Maria della Piazza with its intricately carved facade, the Piazza del Plebiscito, and the Loggia dei Mercanti in Venetian Gothic. The Museo Archeologico Nazionale delle Marche is strong on the Piceni, the pre-Roman people of this region, and the Pinacoteca holds a Titian and a Crivelli. The Passetto is the town's own bathing spot: a monumental staircase down a cliff to a shore of white rock, with caves cut into it where fishermen kept boats.
For the ferry, the terminal is central and walkable from the station but the walk is longer than it looks with luggage. Check in for international sailings closes well before departure, often two hours, and the waiting area has limited facilities, so bring food and water for the wait. Overnight crossings to Greece are long and the cheapest tickets are deck class, where a sleeping bag and a warm layer make a real difference.
Food here is Marchigiano: stoccafisso all'anconetana, salt cod stewed with tomato and potato, brodetto, the Adriatic fish soup that every port makes differently, olive ascolane from further south, and Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, the white wine of the hills inland.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Conero
The Conero regional park is the reason to stay rather than pass through, and it needs either a car, a bus or a boat.
Portonovo is the closest of the beaches, with a small Romanesque church, Santa Maria di Portonovo, standing among the trees behind it. Sirolo and Numana sit further south and have the easier access. The Spiaggia delle Due Sorelle, the most photographed beach on this coast, has no land access at all and is reached by boat from Numana or Sirolo in season, which is part of why it stays beautiful.
Walking trails cross the headland through Mediterranean scrub and holm oak, with the Sentiero del Passo del Lupo descending steeply to the shore. These are real paths: loose limestone, steep, hot and unshaded in places, and the descents to the beaches are harder coming back up than going down. Summer buses connect the villages, parking is restricted in July and August, and some beaches limit numbers.
Inland, the Frasassi Caves are among the largest cave systems in Europe and about an hour away, and Urbino, a UNESCO Renaissance town, is around ninety minutes.
When to Go
May, June, September and early October are ideal. July and August are hot and busy, and winter is mild but wet and windy.
The Adriatic coast here has a Mediterranean climate moderated by the sea and the mountains behind. Summer, July and August, brings highs in the low thirties with high humidity and the full weight of Italian holiday traffic on the Conero beaches, where parking and access are restricted in response.
Late spring and September are the best of it: warm, the sea still or already swimmable, the walking comfortable, and the crowds thinner. September in particular has the warmest water of the year.
Winter is mild in the day, around 10 to 13C, but this is an exposed headland and the wind matters more than the temperature. The tramontana and bora winds off the Adriatic make it feel far colder, and rain is heaviest between October and December. Ferries are cancelled in serious weather and the crossings are rough in winter, which is worth knowing if you are timing a trip to Greece or Croatia.
Is Ancona Safe for Women Travelers
Ancona is a safe, ordinary Italian provincial capital with a port's usual caveats, and the real risks are the cliffs and the sea.
The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in Italy. Its guidance concentrates on petty theft in crowded tourist areas and on the ZTL, the limited traffic zones in historic centres that catch drivers out with automatic fines months after the trip.
There is no district a visitor needs to avoid, and the old town and the Passetto are fine in the evening. As in any port, the area immediately around the ferry terminal and the railway station is busier, more transient and less pleasant late at night, and petty theft concentrates there and around the bus stops. Keep luggage in sight while waiting for a sailing, because a long wait with bags is the classic opportunity.
The genuine hazards are coastal. The Conero paths down to the beaches are steep, loose and hot, and people get into trouble by descending in sandals or running out of water on the climb back. Rockfall from the limestone cliffs is a real phenomenon and some beaches are closed or restricted for that reason, so pay attention to signs rather than treating them as advisory. Swimming at the unguarded Conero beaches means no lifeguard, cold deep water close to shore and currents around the headlands; the Passetto's rock shore is likewise unguarded and slippery.
Healthcare is excellent and the reciprocal arrangements are worth understanding before you need them. A UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as a resident, which is not the same as free and does not cover repatriation or a private clinic. Travel insurance sits on top of it rather than instead of it.
The Ancona Packing List
Base layers, for wind rather than cold
Ancona's winter is mild on paper and unpleasant in practice, because it is an exposed headland and the Adriatic wind cuts through anything loosely woven. A merino base layer blocks that far better than cotton and keeps working when you are damp from spray or rain, which on this coast you frequently are. It also handles a long overnight ferry crossing, where a heated lounge and an open deck are twenty degrees apart. Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron and 160gsm with no synthetic blend, and a merino wool base layer for women is the right foundation from October through April and useful on any boat.
Mid layer
A fleece mid layer from October to April, and worth carrying in summer for a ferry deck at night, which is genuinely cold even in July.
Wind and rain
A packable rain jacket for women with a hood that stays up. On this headland the wind is the point: it will invert an umbrella and it makes 12C feel like 5C on the cathedral terrace.
Footwear, and the Conero decides this
Walking shoes with grip, and this is a genuine safety item rather than a comfort one: the paths down to Portonovo and the Due Sorelle viewpoints are loose limestone on steep gradients, and sandals are how ankles get turned and how people slip. Merino wool socks, plus separate sandals or water shoes for the rock shore at the Passetto and the pebble beaches.
Sun and water
High SPF sunscreen, sunglasses and an insulated water bottle, which matters specifically because the Conero beaches have limited or no facilities and the climb back up is the hard part. Reflected sun off white limestone and water burns quickly.
The small things
A merino wool beanie from November to March, for wind. A scarf for the cathedral, which is a working church. Food and water for a ferry wait, because the terminal has little. And a sleeping bag or a warm layer if you are travelling deck class on an overnight crossing.
Essential Resources for Women in Ancona
Emergency numbers: 112 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile, with operators who will find an English speaker. It is the single number across the whole European Union.
Non-emergency police: the Carabinieri on 112 and the Polizia di Stato on 113. There is a police presence at the port for ferry traffic. A theft must be reported in person for the denuncia your insurer will require.
Tourist police: no separate force.
Main hospital or clinic: the Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria delle Marche at Torrette, on the western edge of the city, is the regional referral hospital with a 24 hour emergency department. Its own website did not resolve when this guide was written, so it is named here without a link.
Official health authority: the Italian Ministry of Health, salute.gov.it
US State Department travel advisory: the Italy advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Official tourism authority: the Marche regional tourist board, turismo.marche.it, and italia.it
Solo women safety assessment: Ancona is a safe and unremarkable provincial capital to travel alone in, with the ordinary caveats of a working ferry port. The old town, the cathedral hill and the Passetto are fine in the evening and there is no district to avoid. The area around the ferry terminal and the railway station is more transient and less pleasant late at night, and that is where petty theft concentrates, so keep luggage in sight during a long wait for a sailing, which is the classic opportunity for it. What is much more likely to hurt you is the coast. The Conero paths down to Portonovo and the Due Sorelle viewpoints are steep, loose limestone, hot and largely unshaded, and the usual trouble is descending in sandals or running out of water before the climb back. Rockfall from these cliffs is real and it is why some beaches are closed or restricted, so treat the signs as instructions. The Conero beaches and the Passetto rock shore have no lifeguards, the water gets deep quickly, and there are currents around the headlands. In winter, the wind on this exposed headland matters far more than the temperature, and serious weather cancels ferries, so do not plan a tight connection onward to Greece or Croatia.
Reading On
For the country-level picture, start with the Italy travel guide for women. For why merino blocks Adriatic wind better than cotton, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
