Differently from other cities of northern Italy, Ancona never became a seignory.

The sole exception was the rule of the Malatesta, who took the city in 1348 taking advantage of the black death and of a fire that had destroyed many of its important buildings.

The Malatesta are ousted in 1383.

In 1532 it definitively loses its freedom and becomes part of the Papal States, under Pope Clement VI.