Product Code Database
The Palatine Gate (; Piedmontese: Pòrta Palatin-a) is a Roman Age city gate located in Turin, Italy. The gate provided access through the Defensive wall of Julia Augusta Taurinorum (modern Turin) from the North side and, as a result, it constituted the Porta Principalis Dextra of the old town.
The Palatine Gate represents the primary archaeological evidence of the city's Roman phase. It is one of the world's best preserved 1st-century AD Roman gateways. Together with the ancient theatre's remains, located a short distance away, it is part of the so-called Archaeological Park, which opened in 2006.
The most trusted theory suggests that it might be either the former Casa del Senato (House of the Senate), a Middle Ages palace located very close to the Palatine Gate, inside the city walls, or perhaps the Palazzo di Città (City Palace), the city hall of Turin placed not far from the gate as well (though a little farther than the old House of the Senate).
A second theory hints to the presence of an alleged adjacent amphitheatre built near present-day Borgo Dora, a historical neighbourhood developing right outside the old city walls (north of the Porta Palatina). This facility might rapidly have fallen into disrepair and, as a result, it might simply have been dubbed palazzo by the ancients.
Over the centuries, however, the Palatine Gate was also known by some other names, such as Porta Comitale (Count's Gate, allegedly referring to a count's residence), Porta Doranea or Porta Doranica (since it led to the Dora Riparia) and later as Porta Palazzo (a clear synonym of Porta Palatina).
Quite similar to the ancient Porta Decumana, built into the medieval structure of the present-day Palazzo Madama, the Palatine Gate represents an example of a typical Roman gate facing a cavaedium (quadrangular courtyard on the inside of the city walls), the remains of which are placed in front of the gate. Erected on a square base, the two angular towers are more than thirty metres high and feature a sixteen-sided structure. The central body, namely the interturrio, is about twenty metres long and is characterized by two orders of windows, the lower one composed of arch windows and the upper one made up of jack arch windows. The underlying portion features four entryways: the central ones are larger and taller and are vehicle accessible, while the two entryways to the sides are narrower and shorter and served as pedestrian passageways. The grooves along the entryways' inner walls suggest the original presence of the so-called cateractae, an alleged system of gate gratings operated from the upper floor.
On the ground near the gate is still part of the guardhouse added in the Roman period, on which one can see the furrows on the stones caused by the transit of wagons.
The pair of bronze statues depicting Augustus Caesar and Julius Caesar are not the original statues but copies from the last, radical restoration of 1934. However, they are object of discussion as they were incorrectly placed in the internal area occupied by the statio and not outside the gate, where they would possibly have more relevance.
This facility served as a city gate for a long time and was turned into a castrum in the 11th century, although it lost the internal structure of the cavaedium over the centuries. In 1404, after centuries of incursions and partial decay, the western tower was rebuilt and both towers got completed with battlements for defensive purposes.
In 2006 the City of Turin started a restoration of the archaeological area, with the intent to improve the park, make the towers accessible to the public and build an underground parking for the carts of the nearby Porta Palazzo open market.
|
|
