Porta Romana (Siena)

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The Porta Romana is a city ​​gate in Siena and part of the city ​​walls of Siena .

Exterior facade of the Porta Romana in Siena
Original location of the fresco on the main gate
The Medici coat of arms on the square between the front wall and the main gate

location

The city gate Porta Romana (Roman Gate) is located at the southern end of Siena on the Via Francigena and the historic Roman road Via Cassia and leads here to Rome , which gives it its name . It is the largest city gate in Siena and is now a triple chamber gate with two lockable portals at the main gate and a lockable front wall.

The street leading to the historic center of Siena is called Via Roma; the continuing street Via Enea Silvio Piccolomini is named after Pius II . The city gate is located in the third third of the city Terzo di San Martino in the Contrada Montone (Valdimontone, Widder) and is located in the city wall ring between the city gates Porta Pispini and the no longer existing gate Porta Giustizia (Porta Justizia, in front of it Porta in Val di Montone ). Today's next city gate is the Porta Tufi .

history

The city gate, initially (Porta) Nuova di San Martino (also called Porta Nuova del Terzo San Martino ), was built to close the suburbs (Borghi) Borga Santa Maria , Castel Montorio and Borgo della Maddalena with the Via Francigena, which are now incorporated by the city wall expansion connect. Preparatory work was carried out as early as 1310, when the street Stradone di Romana (now Via Roma) , which was then outside the city wall, was laid out by the city.

The foundations were laid on August 13, 1327. The gate was built by Agnolo di Ventura and Agostino di Giovanni and was built on the site of the destroyed Santa Barnaba Monastery (Convento di Santa Barnaba). The work on the gate was finished on May 20, 1329. It replaced the previous city gate Porta San Martino in the course of the expansion of the city walls in Terzo San Martino and thus belongs to the fourth city wall ring of Siena.

Taddeo di Bartolo began a fresco on the outside of the main gate (after the front wall) in 1417 or 1421 , which was continued by Stefano di Giovanni Sassetta (Il Sassetta) in 1447 and completed by Sano di Pietro from 1459 to 1466 after his death in 1450 . The few surviving parts of the Incoronazione della Madonna fresco were later transferred to the Basilica di San Francesco .

The gate acquired political importance on July 27, 1552, when the Senesians drove the Spanish allies out through the Porta Romana . Three years later, on April 21, 1555, the defeated Senese government under Piero Strozzi left the city in the same place (while the victors from Florence marched through Porta Camollia ) to take refuge in Montalcino for four years as Repubblica di Siena riparata in Montalcino to find.

The coat of arms of the Medici was placed above the central gate by order of Cosimo I de 'Medici after the fall of the Senes Republic in 1555. It contains the inscription Cosimus Medices Florentiae Et Senarum Dux II (Cosimo de 'Medici, Duke of Florence and Siena II.). After centuries of neglect, the Porta Romana was restored in 1932 under the auspices of the Bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena . The middle gate was enlarged and adapted to the traffic. The Medici coat of arms, which had previously hung over the central gate, was repositioned on the left side of the forecourt.

literature

Web links

Commons : Porta Romana (Siena)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Augusto Codogno: Quando nacque la Porta Romana. Una delle più belle ed ornate porte di Siena. In: Il Cittadino Online from October 19, 2013 (Italian), online version

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b cf. Torriti p. 359
  2. ↑ a b c d e cf. Pellegrini
  3. ^ Franklin Toker: The Contract of 1340: An Unicum in European Architecture. In: The Sansedoni Palace , p. 196, Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena (ed.), Siena 2005, ISBN 88-8024-142-7
  4. ↑ cf. TCI p. 556
  5. ↑ a b c cf. Torriti p. 360
  6. ↑ a b Emanuele Repetti: MONTALCINO (Mons Ilcinus, e presso alcuni Mons Lucinus). In Dizionario Geografico Fisico Storico della Toscana (1833–1846), online edition of the University of Siena (pdf, Italian) on the history of Montalcino
  7. ^ Augusto Codogno: Quando "nacque" la Porta Romana. In: Il Cittadino Online from October 20, 2013 (accessed March 30, 2015, Italian)

Coordinates: 43 ° 18 ′ 47.6 "  N , 11 ° 20 ′ 22.4"  E