March of Ancona

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The March of Ancona or marca Anconitana (also Anconetana) was a frontier march centred on the city of Macerata in the Middle Ages.^[1] Its name is preserved as an Italian region today, the Marche. It corresponds to the modern Province of Ancona.

The march was created as a political division of the Papal States during the pontificate of Innocent III in the year 1198. It was initially governed by a papal nominee called a rector. The rector of Ancona, like the rectors of the other papal provinces, was under the authority of a general rector reporting directly to the pope. The province was confirmed by the Constitutiones Sanctæ Matris Ecclesiæ in 1357. The march followed the Adriatic as far south as Urbino and contained the cities of Loreto, Camerino, Fermo, Macerata, Osimo, San Severino, and Tolentino

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