Roman gates

A city gate is a gate set within a city wall, and it was the point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods and animals (Wikipedia). Depending on the period, gates served defence, security, health, trade and taxation, and they were staffed by military or municipal authorities. They also carried public information: announcements, toll schedules, standards of local measures and legal texts could be displayed on them, and a gate could be ornamented with sculpture or inscriptions.

Many cities closed their gates each night after a curfew, and as stability grew, walled cities often removed their gates and fortifications; those that survive do so, in Wikipedia’s words, for historic interest rather than security.

The gates in this atlas are of three kinds. Porta Borsari in Verona is the ornate front of the main gate where the Via Postumia entered the town. Aosta’s Porta Praetoria is a double row of arches around a small square, still the way into the old centre. Susa’s Porta Savoia is a 3rd-century gate of two round towers set into new walls. Each page says what stands today, how to see it and what else is within a short walk.