Piazza Virgiliana

This space was originally the Porto dell’Ancona, the city’s oldest port, but in 1797 General Miollis, governor during French occupation, convinced the city authorities to turn the space – filled in and reclaimed from the marsh vegetation – into a square designed for military exercises and with a monument commemorating Virgil. 
The architect Paolo Pozzo was responsible for its concrete accomplishment and a first monument dedicated to the great local poet was erected in 1801: a tall column topped with a bust in his likeness. The present bronze statue by the sculptor Emilio Quadrelli has been here since 1927.