Porta San Pancrazio: Difference between revisions

Porta San Pancrazio is one of the southern gates of the Aurelian walls in Rome (Italy).

History

The gate rises close to the summit of the Janiculum hill and its first building could date back to the end of the Roman Republic, when a humble housing cluster on the right bank of the Tiber was surronded by a little urban wall. It later marked the southern vertex of the stretch of the wall built in 270 by Emperor Aurelian that climbed the hill with a triangle-shaped layout.

One of the relevant characteristics of the 14th Region, in which the gate rose, was the fact that it was passed through by the Via Aurelia vetus: it started from Pons Aemilius, climbed the hill and exited from the town just through the gate, that took its name from the street (even now, the present Via Aurelia Antica, having lost its stretch within Trastevere, starts here). For this reason, the former name of the gate was Porta Aurelia^[1], though the denominations “Gianicolense” or “Aureliana” - from the name of the consul that conceived and built the road - are attested. The importance of the near sepulchre of the Christian martyr Pancras, of the catacomb consecrated to him and later of the Basilica, destinations of continual pilgrimages, became so much prevalent along the consular street, as to influence - just like in many other cases - the process of christianization of the nomenclature of the roman gates, and since 6th century the gate was bestowed the name it maintains to this day^[2].

In the vicinity, on the inner side, there were the public mills, placed close to the merge of the aqueduct called Aqua Traiana, which operated until the end of the Middle Ages.

The original aspect of the gate is absolutely unknown and probably it also rose in a slightly different position. Some clues dating back to 16th and 17th century might lead to suppose that it had a single arch with two quadrangular tower on its sides, thus confirming the typical structure of all the restorations carried up by Emperor Honorius at the beginning of 5th century.

On February 537, the gate gave in to the siege of the Goths leaded by Vitiges.

The whole gate was partially rebuilt in the 17th century by de' Rossi, a disciple of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, during the construction of the new urban wall called “Mura Gianicolensi“ (Janiculum walls), by orders of Pope Urban VIII. De' Rossi simply removed the gate, but maintained the Aurelian counter-gate. The new walls replaced, by demolishing it, the whole stretch of Aurelian walls rising on the right side of the Tiber, as well as Porta Portuensis and Porta San Pancrazio, that were completely re-built (the first one became the present Porta Portese, about 400 m norther than the former position) with the baroque architectural style typical of that age.

The gate became later famous for the combats that took place in the area, in the period April - June 1849, between the military units of the Roman Republic, captained by Giuseppe Garibaldi, and the French troops intervened to protect the Papacy. On that occasion the gate was destroyed by the French bombings. It was rebuilt to its present aspect by the architect Virginio Vespignani^[3] in 1854, on commission by Pope Pius IX, and had once again a prominent role on September 20, 1870, when it was passed through by the troops of General Nino Bixio, at the same time of the one entering Porta Pia.

On the occasion of the 19th-century rehash, the following inscription was placed on the attic:

Pio IX Pontefice Massimo ricostruì nell'anno 1854, settimo del pontificato, come dimora per accogliere i soldati del presidio e come padiglione per esigere le gabelle, la porta fortificata costruita a presidio della città sulla sommità del Gianicolo dal Pontefice Massimo Urbano VIII, distrutta dall'impeto della guerra nel 1854 - curatore A.G.Torquato prefetto dell'erario

— PORTAM PRAESIDIO URBIS IN IANICULO VERTICE
AB URBANO VIII PONT. MAX. EXTRUCTAM COMMUNITAM
BELLI IMPETU AN. CHRIST. MDCCCLIV DISIECTAM
PIUS IX PONT. MAXIMUS
TABERNA PRAESIDIARIS EXCEPIENDIS
DIAETA VECTIGALIBUS EXIGENDIS
RESTITUIT
ANNO DOMINI MDCCCLIV PONTIFICATUS VIII
ANGELI GALLI EQ TORQUATO PRAEFECTO AERARII CURATORI

La struttura ospitava infatti sia gli ambienti per il presidio militare (la taberna), sia l’ufficio per la riscossione del pedaggio per il transito (vectigalibus exigendis).

In proposito, va ricordato che già dal V secolo e almeno fino al XV, è attestato come prassi normale l’istituto della concessione in appalto o della vendita a privati delle porte cittadine e della riscossione del pedaggio per il relativo transito. In un documento del 1467^[4] è riportato un bando che specifica le modalità di vendita all’asta delle porte cittadine per un periodo di un anno. Da un documento del 1474^[5] apprendiamo che il prezzo d’appalto per la porta San Pancrazio era pari a ”fiorini 25, bol. XXI per sextaria” (“rata semestrale”); si trattava di un prezzo piuttosto modesto, e modesto doveva quindi essere anche il traffico cittadino per quel passaggio. Si sa di almeno due appalti che riguardarono la porta San Pancrazio nel XV secolo, e di un altro concesso nel 1566 da papa Pio V a suo nipote Lorenzo Giberti; almeno a quell’epoca il traffico cittadino per quel passaggio doveva quindi essere abbastanza consistente, per poter assicurare un congruo guadagno a un personaggio di tale levatura. Guadagno che generalmente era regolamentato da precise tabelle che riguardavano la tariffa di ogni tipo di merce^[6], ma che era abbondantemente arrotondato da abusi di vario genere, a giudicare dalla quantità di gride, editti e minacce che venivano emessi.

Attualmente Porta San Pancrazio è sede dell’Associazione Nazionale Veterani e Reduci Garibaldini con annesso Museo Garibaldino (dedicato però anche alla Divisione Italiana Partigiana Garibaldi, attiva tra il 1943 e il

Notes

Bibliography

• Mauro Quercioli, ”Le mura e le porte di Roma”. Newton Compton Ed., Rome, 1982
• Laura G. Cozzi, ”Le porte di Roma”. F.Spinosi Ed., Rome, 1968
• Giuseppina Pisani Sartorio, s.v. Porta Aurelia, P. S. Pancratii, in Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae (by E.M. Steinby), III, Rome 1996, p. 302. ISBN 88-7140-096-8