Siege of Ancona (1860)

Siege of Ancona
Part of the Second Italian War of Independence
General view of the siege of Ancona
Date 24-29 September 1860 Location Ancona, Italy Result Sardinian victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Sardinia	Papal States
Commanders and leaders
Christophe Lamoricière	Manfredo Fanti Carlo Pellion di Persano

The siege of Ancona took place between 24 and 29 September 1860 during the Second Italian War of Independence. The nerve centre for the defence of the Papal States, Ancona was the site of the last defence of General de Lamoricière's troops defeated in the Battle of Castelfidardo.^[1]

Blockaded by the Royal Sardinian Navy commanded by Admiral Persano after 20 September, the city was also surrounded on land by the armies of General Fanti on 24 September.^[2] After several days of skirmishes, on 28 September the Sardinian troops attacked by land and sea, subjecting the port fortress to heavy bombardment.^[3] The siege ended on September 29 with the garrison surrendering unconditionally.

After the defeat in the Battle of Castelfidardo, the Papal general De Lamoricière headed towards the coast with about 50 light cavalrymen and a few hundred German-speaking papal troops, who however were blocked by the Sardinian soldiers, who rushed through the locality of Concio, to cut off their path to Umana, the name at that time for the city known today as Numana.^[4]

De La Moricière nevertheless managed to get through to Ancona from the so-called "piana degli orti", now Viale della Vittoria. It is believed that the cavalrymen climbed the paths of Monte Conero up to the Camaldolese convent and after a short stop continued towards Ancona using little-known coastal paths, while according to some sources they also came through the Roman caves, today no longer passable due to subsidence.^[5]

On September 16th the Sardinian steam frigate Costituzione appeared off the harbour, on a reconnaissance mission with the intent of making surveys on the presence of ships in the port. On September 18th, the same day the defeated general De La Moricière entered Ancona, there was an exchange of artillery between the papal forts and Persano's ships.^[2]

On September 24, the Sardinian forces took possession of the Lunetta Scrima, and on September 26 and 27, after some clashes, the important heights of Monte Pulito and Monte Pelago were occupied.^[6]Here today near it:Forte Altavilla, there is a small monument dedicated to the Sardinian soldiers who fell there. While De Lamoricière was examining the batteries of the fortress near the parapets, a musket shot was fired at him, which missed him. A local papal soldier was accused of the attack, and according to the original account of the incident, written in French, he was executed a few hours later. However a note in the Italian translation states that the accused soldier was later cleared due to his previous record and the testimony of General Kanzler.^{[7]: 178–9}

The Sardinian forces continued their advance towards Borgo Pio, today the Archi area, and from this position they bombarded Porte Pia, attempting to break down the massive gate. Meanwhile the XVI° Bersaglieri Battalion launched a surprise amphibious attack and took possession of the Lazzaretto. After it fell into their hands it began to be bombarded from all the other papal positions.

On 28 September, after a thirty-minute bombardment, the Sardinian forces launched a strong attack against Porta Farina and Porta Calamo, but they were repelled. At sea, Admiral Persano used small boats to try and break the defensive chain stretched across the mouth of the port and concentrated the fire of his warships on the Forte della Lanterna, eventually blowing up its powder magazine, killing about 125 Habsburg artillerymen.^[6]

With the loss of the sea forts of Lazzaretto and Lanterna, General De Lamoricière gave the order to surrender because he understood that no military aid would reach him in time to bolster his resistance. The final surrender was signed on 29 September 1860 at Villa Favorita.^[6]

At the time of the siege of 1860, Ancona was defended from the sea by the Forte della Lanterna (currently the headquarters of the Coast Guard and Fire Brigade), by the batteries along the port walls and some on pontoons, by the Forte del Lazzaretto and by the batteries on the Cappuccini and Cardeto hills. On the landward side, the defense strongpoints were the it:Cittadella di Ancona, the Campo Trincerato (currently the Citadel Park), the it:Lunetta Di Santo Stefano, Forte Cardeto and by the Baluardo di S. Paolo.

The entrance to the port had been blocked partly with poles driven into the bottom and partly by a large chain stretched between two piers.^[8] There were also two floating pontoons, each with two cannons, as well as 4 “palandre” (large sailing boats) anchored and each armed with a cannon.^[7]: 119

Overall, Ancona had 129 cannons, mortars and other guns of various calibres in its defences. The largest projectiles were 36-pounders. These were joined by other batteries that arrived after the battle of Castelfidardo.^[9]

This table does not include the artillery pieces that arrived after the withdrawal of the papal soldiers, which were more than ten in number.

The stronghold of Ancona was defended by 6,000 soldiers and 348 officers, based on the number of prisoners after the surrender, while according to papal data the stronghold of Ancona would have been defended by 4,100 men in total. The higher number recorded by the Piedmontese data could also be due to the arrival of other papal detachments, who had abandoned indefensible positions to concentrate in a well-fortified position.

The Sardinian land forces had 16,499 soldiers while the navy consisted of the steam frigate Maria Adelaide (flagship), the steam frigates Vittorio Emanuele and Carlo Alberto; the wheeled corvettes Costituzione, Governolo and Monzambano, the frigates San Michele and Azzardoso and the steamships Tanaro and Conte di Cavour.^[2]

The frigates were equipped with 80-pounder Paixhans guns, as well as rifled cannon that could fire 138-pounder hollow projectiles. The other ships had rifled guns for 4-pounder shells.^[10]

According to some sources, the fallen were 400 papal soldiers, 180 Piedmontese soldiers and 4 civilian victims. According to other sources the casualties were higher, in particular the Piedmontese ones. ^{[11][7]: 254}

On 3 October 1860 King Victor Emmanuel II disembarked from the ship Governolo welcomed by salvos from the ship's guns and the land batteries and by cheering crowds.^[12][13]