Porta San Marco (Siena)

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The Porta San Marco is a city ​​gate in Siena and part of the city ​​walls of Siena . It was also called the Porta delle Maremme due to its function as an entrance gate to the Maremma . The gate led over the street Strada Regia Grossetana to the monastery of Sant'Eugenio in Costafabbri (today part of Siena), then over Massa Marittima (Via Massetana) to Grosseto , the capital of the Maremma.

Exterior facade of Porta San Marco in Siena
Inner facade of the Porta San Marco in Siena

location

The city gate Porta San Marco is located at the southwest end of Siena at the intersection of Via San Marco , Via del Nuovo Asilio and Via delle Sperandie within the city walls and Via Massetana and Strada del Giuggiolo outside the city walls. These continuing roads, which later join, lead to the Tressa River . The square in front of the gate is the Piazzale Biringucci , named after Marcello Biringucci . The city gate is located in the third third of the city, Terzo di Città, in the Contrada Chiocciola (snail) and is located in the city wall ring between the eastern gate Porta Tufi and the Porta Laterina , which serves exclusively as access to the Cimitero del Laterino cemetery . The next city gate to the west of the city wall ring is the Porta Fontebranda gate .

construction

As a secondary city gate, the Porta San Marco is not a chamber gate , but, in contrast to the Porta Romana and Porta Pispini , is only constructed as a simple arched gate without front gates. In 1376, a front gate was documented that was attached to the then already dilapidated Church of San Simone. Architecturally, it consists of three arched friezes , the main gate being the largest and the two (identical) side gates standing by its side. In contrast to other city gates, it does not contain any frescoes or other decorations. The IHS seal of St. Bernard of Siena is on the facade under the arched frieze . In 1994, on the fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of Siena, a plaque was put up, quoting General Joseph de Goislard de Monsabert of July 3, 1944:

Tirate dove volete, ma io vi proibisco di tirare al di là del XVIII Secolo.

history

The name of the city gate is the Pieve San Marco, around which a Borgo (Popolo di San Marco) developed outside the city walls in the 11th century. The Pieve is located on the Pian de 'Mantellini and thus just south of the city wall of Castelvecchio, the oldest and highest part of the city. The city ​​gate is mentioned for the first time in documents of the Biccherna in 1258, when payments were made to a guard, Junte Aczi (Azzo di Giunta). The gate was probably completed around 1290, i.e. before the city walls were completed, which in this area was only reached around 1326. Until then, the gate was protected by moats. The gate was built during the fourth expansion of the city walls and replaced the gates Porta Aurea (also called Porta Oria nuova or Arco di Santa Lucia ), Porta del Cassero (also Porta San Quirico ) and the Due Porte (also called Porta Stalloreggi ).

In 1388, the gate had to withstand an attack when several people from Florence set the gate on fire. The flames woke the guards and they could catch one of the attackers. He was later executed.

After the attack from Florence on Siena (Battaglia di Camollia / Battle of Camollia) on July 25, 1526, the city fortifications of Siena were reinforced by Baldassare Peruzzi in 1528 . This created the Fortino di San Marco bastion , which was about 30 m north (ie towards Porta Laterina near the Strada del Giuggiolo or the upper part, the Piaggia del Giuggiolo) and extended over two floors with a superstructure. This system was similar to the four other systems of the Peruzzi (Bastione di Porta Laterina, Bastione di San Prospero, Bastione San Viene and the Fortino delle Donne) that were built at the same time. The defense system was attached to the monastery of Santa Caterina delle Ruote , which had been abandoned in 1507 . The front gate (Antiporta) pointed in the direction of the Poggio del Cardinale hill (Porta Laterina, north) and was connected to the Sasso di Laterino weir system there, the road that continued then turned to the southwest (today's Strada del Giuggiolo) and led to the Tressa river . During the siege of the city by Fiorentine troops from 1554–1555, the city gate suffered considerable damage.

Today there is nothing left of the Peruzzi fortifications, the last ruins were torn down in the 19th century in favor of today's Piazzale Biringucci. At this time (around 1843) the new and less steep road to Tressa (today's Via Massetana) was built.

The Porta San Marco in art

  • The city gate is described in the novel Tre croci (1920) (Eng. Three Crosses ) by Federigo Tozzi .
  • In the Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati in Siena (Via della Sapienza) there are two representations of the Porta San Marco. One drawing is by Agostino Fantastici , from the beginning of the 19th century and shows the gate before the changes in 1843. The other is by Alessandro Romani (1799–1854).

traffic

The Porta San Marco is outside the restricted traffic zone (ZTL - Zone a traffico limitato), so its passage is permitted. To the north (left after the city gate) you can reach the Il Duomo car park (Via del Nuovo Asilo). In all other directions, the restricted traffic zone begins immediately after the gate.

photos

  • The facade with the flags that are raised on the occasion of the Palios.

  • Side view with flags.

  • Panorama of Porta San Marco as seen from Poggio del Cardinale (Porta Laterina).

  • Quote from General Monsabert.

literature

Web links

Commons : Porta San Marco (Siena)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Touring Club Italiano: Toscana.
  2. ↑ a b Emanuele Repetti: SIENA (SENAE, anticamente SAENA) nella Val-d-Arbia.
  3. ↑ Piero Craveri: BIRINGUCCI, Marcello. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Vol. 10 (1968)
  4. ↑ a b c d e Ettore Pellegrini: Fortificare con arte. Mura, porte e fortezze di Siena nella Storia.
  5. ↑ a b Augusto Codogno: Porta San Marco: nata prima della mura.
  6. ↑ Simon Pepper / Nicholas Adams: Armi da fuoco e fortificazioni. Architettura militare e guerre d'assedio nella Siena del XVI secolo. Nuova Immagine Edizioni, Siena 1995, ISBN 88-7145-068-X , p. 54.
  7. ^ Federigo Tozzi: Tre Croci. In: Opere. Arnoldo Mondadori Editore , Milan 1987, ISBN 88-04-22666-8 , p. 193.

Coordinates: 43 ° 18 ′ 43.9 ″  N , 11 ° 19 ′ 30.2 ″  E