In this page:
The plate by Giuseppe Vasi
Today's view
Customs
Porta Portese Antica

The Plate (No. 11 - ii)

In this small additional plate Vasi shows (left) Porta S. Paolo from inside Rome and (right, based on old drawings) Porta Portese which was pulled down by Urbanus VIII when he redesigned the walls of Trastevere.

Today

Porta S. Paolo can now be called again Porta Trigemina (with three entrances) because the left entrance (closed in the plate) has been reopened.  The inner gate is the original gate and it had two openings (left Via Laurentina right Via Ostiense).

Customs

The gates served also for taxation of goods and people entering or leaving Rome. Of the many customs houses built for this purpose only that of Porta S. Paolo has survived and has been recently repainted.

Esterno della Porta Portese antica

Today

Porta Portese was located close to the river and was reinforced by two towers. It was pulled down by Urbanus VIII who chose to shorten the southern walls of Trastevere and moved the gate (Porta Portese nuova) some half a mile north.

Apparently nothing is left of the old walls, but looking around with a bit of attention one can find a little stretch of the walls and parts of a Villa built outside the old gate.

Go to    or to  Book 1 or to my Home Page on Baroque Rome or to my Home Page on Rome in the footsteps of an XVIIIth century traveller.