Description
Porta Pia is one of the gates of Rome's Aurelian Walls, in the Nomentano district, and one of Michelangelo's last works. It is also the place where the Papal States came to an end: on September 20, 1870, a few dozen meters from the gate, the walls gave way and the bersaglieri entered the city. Rome became Italian.
Pope Pius IV wanted it, hence the name, in place of the nearby Porta Nomentana, walled up soon after. Michelangelo was eighty-five. According to Vasari he presented three designs, "all extravagant and most beautiful," and the practical pope chose the cheapest. Work ran from 1561 to 1565 and was completed by Giacomo Del Duca.
The finest side is the one facing the city, at the end of via XX Settembre. Michelangelo conceived the gate as a theatrical backdrop rather than a passage: he set it back from the walls, to give more stage to the Strada Pia that led up to it.
There are two curiosities to look for on the facade. On the sides a decoration resembles a basin wrapped in a towel: legend says it is a joke by Michelangelo, a reminder that Pius IV came from the Medici of Marignano, a family of barbers, and not from the Florentine Medici.
Under one window is a grinning mascaron, roughly carved and unfinished, in which Romans have chosen to recognize Michelangelo himself. Under the other window is a barely sketched boulder: perhaps proof of the haste with which the work was finished.
The outer, neoclassical facade dates from the 1800s: Virginio Vespignani completed it in 1869, at the wish of Pius IX, with the statues of Saint Agnes and Saint Alexander in the niches. For about 250 years the gate had remained almost a ruin, with its attic damaged by lightning; a second lightning strike, in 1851, convinced Pius IX to restore it.
During the bombardment of 1870 the two statues were damaged. Once restored, the pope prevented their return: the niches stayed empty until the Concordat of 1929.
At the exact spot of the breach, about fifty meters west of the gate, stands a monument of marble and bronze. In front of the gate, in the middle of the square, is the Monument to the Bersagliere from 1932: a bronze bugler on the run, six meters tall. In the gate's buildings, once a customs office, is the Historical Museum of the Bersaglieri.
Don't miss
• Michelangelo's facade.
• The spot of the breach.
• The Monument to the Bersagliere.
• The Historical Museum of the Bersaglieri.
Did you know?
• In the courtyard are the busts of four illustrious bersaglieri, among them Goffredo Mameli.
• In 1870 the breach opened after five hours of cannon fire and a charge set off by the sappers.
Pope Pius IV wanted it, hence the name, in place of the nearby Porta Nomentana, walled up soon after. Michelangelo was eighty-five. According to Vasari he presented three designs, "all extravagant and most beautiful," and the practical pope chose the cheapest. Work ran from 1561 to 1565 and was completed by Giacomo Del Duca.
The finest side is the one facing the city, at the end of via XX Settembre. Michelangelo conceived the gate as a theatrical backdrop rather than a passage: he set it back from the walls, to give more stage to the Strada Pia that led up to it.
There are two curiosities to look for on the facade. On the sides a decoration resembles a basin wrapped in a towel: legend says it is a joke by Michelangelo, a reminder that Pius IV came from the Medici of Marignano, a family of barbers, and not from the Florentine Medici.
Under one window is a grinning mascaron, roughly carved and unfinished, in which Romans have chosen to recognize Michelangelo himself. Under the other window is a barely sketched boulder: perhaps proof of the haste with which the work was finished.
The outer, neoclassical facade dates from the 1800s: Virginio Vespignani completed it in 1869, at the wish of Pius IX, with the statues of Saint Agnes and Saint Alexander in the niches. For about 250 years the gate had remained almost a ruin, with its attic damaged by lightning; a second lightning strike, in 1851, convinced Pius IX to restore it.
During the bombardment of 1870 the two statues were damaged. Once restored, the pope prevented their return: the niches stayed empty until the Concordat of 1929.
At the exact spot of the breach, about fifty meters west of the gate, stands a monument of marble and bronze. In front of the gate, in the middle of the square, is the Monument to the Bersagliere from 1932: a bronze bugler on the run, six meters tall. In the gate's buildings, once a customs office, is the Historical Museum of the Bersaglieri.
Don't miss
• Michelangelo's facade.
• The spot of the breach.
• The Monument to the Bersagliere.
• The Historical Museum of the Bersaglieri.
Did you know?
• In the courtyard are the busts of four illustrious bersaglieri, among them Goffredo Mameli.
• In 1870 the breach opened after five hours of cannon fire and a charge set off by the sappers.