Porta Nolana
The Porta Nolana is a largely preserved city gate from the 15th century in the east of the old town of Naples ( Italy ). The street led through this gate from the city center to the eponymous Nola, about 30 km away .
history
The construction of the gate was connected with the construction of a new city wall, which had become necessary at the end of the 15th century during the rule of the Spanish House of Aragon after an expansion of Naples to the east. The previous gate , Porta Forcella, was located approx. 250 m into town in the district of the same name, in the immediate vicinity of the Santissima Annunziata church .
description
The Porta Nolana - like the Porta Capuana , 500 m to the north - was built according to plans by Giuliano da Maiano in the Renaissance style. The defensive function was taken over by the two massive round towers Torre della Fede (Tower of Faith) in the south and Torre della Speranza (Tower of Hope) in the north. They are built from a volcanic rock ( called Piperno in Naples ) that was extracted in a quarry in the nearby Phlegraean Fields . The light marble passage is located between the two towers . Above the arch you can see three coats of arms and a marble relief depicting the Aragonese King Ferdinand I on horseback in armor. Above it was originally the inscription: "Ferdinandus Rex / Nobilissimae Patriae", which was built at the same time in the southern but not preserved Porta del Carmine .
Like the other city gates from this period, the Porta Nolana was dominated by a fresco by Mattia Preti , which has not survived , depicting the Madonna and Child and some saints , and was placed there to protect the city from the plague . On the inside of the gate there is a 17th century bust depicting San Gaetano .
Today the Porta Nolana is partly converted or overbuilt by residential houses. Outside the gate is the Piazza Nolana , where there is a market every morning. a. for seafood . A few meters away is the Porta Nolana train station , the starting point of the Circumvesuviana railway line to Sorrento , which leads past the archaeological sites of Herculaneum and Pompeii .
Individual evidence
- ^ Report by De Dominici, Le vite de 'pittori, scultori e architetti napoletani, 1742
Web links
Coordinates: 40 ° 51 ′ 1 ″ N , 14 ° 16 ′ 4.5 ″ E