WHERE: at the meeting point of Sant’Anselmo and Porta Praetoria streets.

 

HISTORY: built in 25 BC, the gateway was the main access to the city of Augusta Praetoria. It had three openings which are still visible today: one for wagons and two for pedestrians. The indoor area was used as a parade ground. In the openings facing the outside one can still see the grooves where the gates were lowered. The eastern facade still has some of the marble slabs that covered the entire monument. The gate has recently been the subject of a redevelopment project that has recovered the original monumentality, bringing the ground level to the original level.

 

Along the walls that enclosed and protected Augusta Praetoria, then stood other three gates: on the west, the Porta Decumana (from which it was possible to achieve the Piccolo San Bernardo); on the north, the Porta Principalis Sinistra (that led into the Gaul road toward the Gran San Bernardo) and on the south, the Porta Principalis Dextera (whose main function was to provide access to Roman funds in the immediate vicinity).