1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ortona a Mare

by Thomas Ashby

ORTONA A MARE, a small seaport and episcopal see of the Abruzzi, Italy, in the province of Chieti, 12 m. direct E. of that town and 105 m. by rail S.S.E. of Ancona. Pop. (1901) 8667 (town); 15,523 (commune). It is situated on a promontory 230 ft. above sea-level, and connected with the port below by a wire-rope railway. From the ruined castle magnificent views to the south as far as the Punta di Penna can be obtained. The cathedral has been restored at various times, but preserves a fine portal of 1312 by a local artist, Nicolo Mancini. At one side of it is the Palazzo de Pirris with five pointed windows.

The town occupies the site of the ancient Ortona, a seaport of the Frentani; it lay on the Roman coast-road, which here turned inland to Anxanum (Lanciano), 10 m. to the S. The town suffered much from the ravages of the Turks, who laid it in ruins in 1566, and also from frequent earthquakes.

For discoveries in the neighbourhood see A. de Nino in Notizie degli Scavi (1888), 646.  (T. As.)