The Porta Romana, once known as the Porta San Pier Gattolino was the southernmost gate in the 13th-century walls of the Oltrarno section of Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy. It stands at the confluence of a number of roads: accessed from north by Via Romana, Via de' Serragli, and Viale Francesco Petrarca. In addition, a central road along the Boboli Gardens begins near the gate, and allowed the inhabitants of the Pitti Palace to exit and enter Florence with minimal travel on city streets. Beyond the gates are the Via del Poggio Imperiale and Via Senese. The latter led to Siena and points south such as Rome, hence the name. When the majority of the defensive walls of Florence were razed in the 19th century, only a few, and sometimes partial gate structures were left standing including Porta San Gallo, Tower of San Niccolò, and this gate with a snippet of merlonated wall.
The Oltrarno is a quarter of Florence, Italy. The name means beyond the Arno ; it is located south of the River Arno. It contains part of the historic centre of Florence and many notable sites such as the church Santo Spirito di Firenze, Palazzo Pitti, Belvedere, and Piazzale Michelangelo.
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 383,084 inhabitants in 2013, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.
Tuscany is a region in central Italy with an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants (2013). The regional capital is Florence (Firenze).
The 13th century walls and gates of the city were erected with the designs of various builders; among the main contributors were Arnolfo di Cambio, with contributions by Orcagna, Giotto and others. A plaque on the external wall claims the gate was erected in 1327. Originally and as demonstrated on the 1584 Map by Stefano Buonsignori the gate had a lower outer wall with a small courtyard dominated by the larger gate we see today; [1] in this, the gate resembled the Porta Romana of Siena. The gate had a large central entrance for horse-drawn carriages, and smaller lateral doors for pedestrian entry. The door retains its original massive, iron-clad doors. The outer arch has a weather-worn 13th-century fresco, depicting the enthroned Virgin and saints.
Arnolfo di Cambio was an Italian architect and sculptor.
Andrea di Cione di Arcangelo, better known as Orcagna, was an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect active in Florence. He worked as a consultant at the Florence Cathedral and supervised the construction of the facade at the Orvieto Cathedral.
Giotto di Bondone, known mononymously as Giotto and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/Proto-Renaissance period.
The interior portion of the gate has two marble plaques: one commemorates the 1515 entrance into Florence of the Medici Pope Leo X, and the other the 1535 entry of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. [2]
Pope Leo X, born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, was Pope from 9 March 1513 to his death in 1521.
Charles V was Holy Roman Emperor (1519–1556), King of Germany (1520-1556), King of Italy (1530-1556), King of Spain (1516-1556), King of the Indies (1521-1556), Lord of the Habsburg Netherlands (1506–1555), and head of the House of Austria (1519-1556). Charles V revitalized the medieval concept of the universal monarchy of Charlemagne and travelled from city to city, with no single fixed capital: overall he spent 28 years in the Habsburg Netherlands, 18 years in Spain, and 9 years in Germany. After four decades of incessant warfare with the Protestants, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of France, Charles V abandoned his multi-national project with a series of abdications between 1554 and 1556 in favor of his son Philip II of Spain and brother Ferdinand I of Austria. The personal union of his European and American territories, spanning over nearly 4 million square kilometres, was the first collection of realms to be defined as "the empire on which the sun never sets".
When Cosimo I augmented the walls around Florence, at this site, he destroyed the church of San Pier Gattolino that had stood at the site since at least 1068. A subsequent church was rebuilt, which was restored in 1808, when frescoes of Giuseppe Castagnoli and Domenico Del Podestà were added. The church was decorated by Giusto Mariani and Romanelli. It is said the term Gattolino is a corruption of Gattuario, others say it was a corruption of Catelina. [3] Others attribute it to the Italian word "gattice", designating a type of white poplar. The church is also called the parish church of Serumido, derived from the name of Ser Umido di Domenico Grazzini, who helped to fund its rebuilding. [4]
Giuseppe Castagnoli was an Italian painter, mainly of quadratura and ornamentation.
Just outside the wall was the 14th-century church and convent of San Giusto della Calza of the Knights of Jerusalem. [5]
A controversial modern marble statue of two women, named "Dietro-Front" ("Turnabout"), was erected in the circle before the wall by the artist Michelangelo Pistoletto. Coordinates: 43°45′38.44″N11°14′30.80″E / 43.7606778°N 11.2418889°E
Michelangelo Pistoletto is an Italian painter, action and object artist, and art theorist. Pistoletto is acknowledged as one of the main representatives of the Italian Arte Povera. His work mainly deals with the subject matter of reflection and the unification of art and everyday life in terms of a Gesamtkunstwerk.
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.
