Piazza del Plebiscito, Ancona

Piazza del Plebiscito, more commonly known as Piazza del Papa, is one of Ancona's four main squares. Of them, it is the oldest: it was opened in the 15th century; until the city's expansion following Italian unification, it was the city's central square, the "big square" where the boundaries of the three tertieri met: Porto, Capodimonte and San Pietro. Today it is the center of the latter district.

Its shape is singular: very elongated rectangular; also peculiar is the fact that it comprises several levels, connected by two ramps and stairways. It is overlooked by some of the city's most important monuments: the Government Palace, with its tower, the church of St. Dominic, and, towering on the shelf in the center of the square, the statue of Clement XII, the pope who, a new Trajan, was responsible for the rebirth of the port in the 18th century.