Servian Wall (black) and Aurelian Wall (red)
A Tourist in Rome - Aurelian Wall and Gates
| Location: | Various locations, see text below |
| Metro: | Various locations, see text below |
| Time: | about 10 minutes per location |
| Cost: | Free |
| Hours: | Viewable at any time (except as noted below) |
The Aurelian Wall (red wall on the map below) was a city wall built around Rome between 271 AD and 275 AD by Emperor Aurelius to replace the then-insufficient Servian Wall (black wall on the map below). By then, Rome had expanded much beyond its old Servian Wall, and although it had stood essentially unfortified for centuries because it was protected by its powerful armies, incursions by Germanic barbarians and Vandals (in 270 AD) and internal revolts forced Rome to rethink its defenses and construct the new, larger and taller wall. The wall enclosed all seven hills of Rome plus the Campus Martius and the Trastevere district across the Tiber River. The wall ran for a distance of 12 miles, surrounding an area of 5.3 square miles. It was 11 feet thick and 26 feet high, with a square tower every 97 feet. It was built from bricks, and featured a walkable passage on the inner side that fully protected soldiers on patrol. Aurelian died a few months before it was completed even though the construction only took 5 years. Part of the reason for the quick progress and low cost was incorporation of existing buildings into the new wall. Everything that lay along the path of the wall was incorporated into the fortifications. Approximately 1/6 of the wall might have been composed of pre-existing structures. Places where you can see this still today are at the Pyramid of Cestius, and near Porta Maggiore where a section of the Aqua Claudia was used for the wall. An area inside the wall was cleared to enable the wall to be reinforced quickly in an emergency. The wall was effective against the hit-and-run raids which barbarians commonly used, but would probably not have been effective against a prolonged siege. A 4th century remodelling of the wall by Maxentius doubled its height to 52 feet and improved the watch-towers. In 401 AD, under Honorius, the walls and gates were improved by facing the brick gates with thick white stone, adding semicircular towers, walling up the second arch in two-arched gates, and by replacing gate doors on hinges into portcullises which dropped down from above. Despite these improvements, Rome fell to Alaric I, king of the Visigoths in 410 AD, whose army entered the city through Porta Salaria. Totila, king of the Ostrogoths destroyed 1/3 of the wall in 545 AD when he sacked Rome, entering the city through the Porta Asinaria. The wall was repaired and continued defending the city until 1870, when the army of King Victor Emmanuel II of the Kingdom of Italy breached the wall near Porta Pia and captured Rome. Today, several parts of the wall are still well-preserved, the best being along the northern edge from the Muro Torto (Villa Borghese) to Corso d'Italia to Castro Pretorio; along the eastern edge from Porta Maggiore to Porta San Giovanni; along the southern edge from Porta Metronia to Porta Ardeatina and from Porta Ostiense to the Tiber; and along the western edge near the Porta San Pancrazio on the Janiculum Hill. The Museo delle Mura near Porta San Sebastiano explains how the wall was built and defended. Most of the gates stand at their original sites but have gone through changes over the centuries, adapting their purpose according to the needs of the day.
There were 18 gates in the Aurelian Wall. Starting at the northernmost gate and going clockwise, they are:
| Location: | 41.91155, 12.47599 On the northern edge of Piazza del Popolo, just south of the Flaminio metro stop |
| Metro: | Flaminio |
| Time: | about 20 minutes |
| Cost: | Free |
| Hours: | Viewable at any time |
Named Porta Flaminia in ancient times because Via Flaminia, the road from Rome to the eastern coast of northern Italy passed through it. Porta del Popolo was once a gate in the Aurelian Wall but now simply stands at the northern edge of Piazza del Popolo. It is thought to have originally had two archways due to its use mainly to sort traffic entering Rome from the north rather than as a defensive gate. Until 1879, it also had two cylindrical side towers like the rest of the gates in the Aurelian Wall. The current Porta del Popolo was built by Pope Sixtus in 1475 on the site of the ancient Porta Flaminia which was partially buried because the level of the ground had risen since ancient times due to floods. The decoration of the outside of the gate was designed by Nanni di Baccio Bigio with the advice of Michangelo, taking inspiration from the Arch of Titus. The four columns surrounding the central gate came from the former St. Peter's Basilica. The circular towers from ancient times were replaced with square watchtowers. The decoration of the inside of the gate was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini to celebrate the entrance of Queen Christina of Sweden into Rome on December 23, 1655. The statues of St. Peter and St. Paul at ground level on either side of the main arch were added in 1638 by Francesco Mochi. Those statues had ben rejected for the basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls and given back to the sculptor without payment. In 1879, the square towers were demolished and the two lateral archways were opened to accomodate the increase in traffic.
| Location: | 41.90944, 12.48825 At the northern end of Via Veneto, where it enters the Villa Borghese park. |
| Metro: | Barberini |
| Time: | 5 minutes |
| Cost: | free |
| Hours: | outdoors, viewable at any time |
Porta Pinciana is the gate where Via Veneto enters the Villa Borghese. The small paved circle under part of the gate is named Largo Federico Fellini, named after the Italian film director of La Dolce Vita, which was set in part on Via Veneto. Porta Pinciana was the gate through which Aleric and his army of Goths entered Rome in 410 AD to sack the city, as described a bit in "The city which had taken the whole world was itself taken".
This gate marked the beginning of Via Saleria, a road to the north out of Rome. It no longer exists. Destroyed in an 1870 attack, rebuilt in 1873, and demolished in 1921 for the creation of Piaza Fiume.
This gate begins the new Via Nomenata. It was designed by Michelangelo and built in 1561-1565 as a replacement for Porta Nomenata which was closed up at the same time. This change was made due to rerouting of traffic. Located here.
This gate began the original Via Nomenata. It was closed up in 1565 but still stands as a large doorway. Located here.
This gate was the old entrance to Castra Praetoria, the camp of the Praetorian Guard, somewhere near here.
| Location: | 41.89751, 12.51030 Viale di Porta Tiburtina, across from Via Tiburtina Antica, visible from the Triumphal Arch of Pope Sixtus V |
| Metro: | Termini |
| Time: | about 5 minutes |
| Cost: | Free |
| Hours: | Viewable at any time |
Porta Tiburtina (also called Porta San Lorenzo) is one of the eastern gates in the Aurelian Wall of Rome, the first one north of Porta Maggiore (formerly called Porta Praenestina). Via Tiburtina once passed under it, but the modern version of the road begins just outside the gate (at a higher elevation than the gate) and runs from Rome east-northeast to Tivoli and beyond. The gate was originally an arch, built under Augustus, and that arch was incorporated into the Aurelian Wall by the emperor Aurelian. The gate is now below the street level of Rome on both sides, so no road passes through it any more.
My photo of the gate, which was actually concentrated on the tower next to it at the time, was taken from the Triumphal Arch of Pope Sixtus V because I was just too hot and lazy to walk further south to get a better look.
| Location: | 41.89142, 12.51517 East of Termini, along the southern edge of the tracks, and northeast from San Giovanni in Laterano, and along the route of my Southeastern Sights Walking Tour |
| Metro: | Manzoni |
| Time: | about 60 minutes (including the gate, the Aurelian Wall, the aqueducts, and the Tomb of Eurysaces the Baker) |
| Cost: | Free |
| Hours: | Viewable at any time |
If you stand facing the inside of the Porta Maggiore (not the side with the Tomb of Eurysaces the Baker), you can see the Aqua Claudia and Aqua Anio Novus coming from the distance ahead of you and to your right. Peek through an archway and you'll see the aqueduct going off on the far side of the gate, slightly to the right. The water which reaches this point has flowed along that aqueduct for about 4 or 5 miles, from Aqueduct Park, where the Aqua Claudia is most impressive after having flowed quite a distance underground from its source. The water came from that distance, and made a sharp right turn to pass on top of the Porta Maggiore, then continued and turned gradually to the left to continue on along today's railroad tracks to the no-longer-extant settling tank near the Temple of Minerva Medici. At that sharp right turn, the Aqua Neroniano was built to split some water off the main flow of the Aqua Claudia. If you walk through the wall at this point and turn around to face back toward the now-hidden Porta Maggiore, you can see the view in the photo below.
| Location: | 41.88740, 12.51488 At the intersection of Viale Castrense and Via Nola, half way from San Giovanni in Laterano to Porta Maggiore. |
| Metro: | San Giovanni |
| Time: | about 10 minutes |
| Cost: | Free |
| Hours: | Freely visible from the outside at any time, interior not accessible |
Amphitheatre Castrense is not a gate in the Aurelian Wall, but rather an interesting piece of the wall itself. Amphitheatre Castrense is a small amphitheatre, constructed of brick and concrete, dating from the reign of Trajan. Its name could either mean of the Imperial Court or of the military camp. It is too far from the Camp of the Praetorian Guard to be connected with that, so the imperial connection is usually accepted. In 271 AD the Aurelian Wall was constructed and the amphitheatre was incorporated into the wall. The ground floor arches were filled-in to form part of the defense and the upper stories were demolished.
| Location: | 41.88592, 12.50933 Steps away from the metro station San Giovanni, to the east-southeast from the church of San Giovanni in Larerano, and along the route of my Southeastern Sights Walking Tour |
| Metro: | San Giovanni |
| Time: | about 20 minutes |
| Cost: | Free |
| Hours: | Viewable at any time |
This gate is still in existence, located here.
| Location: | 41.87654, 12.50244 About 1.5 km southeast of the Circo Massimo metro station, where Via Latina crosses the Aurelian Wall |
| Metro: | About the same distance from Circo Massimo, Pyramide, and San Giovanni. One way to get there is ride the metro to Circo Massimo, walk away from the Colosseum to the bus stop heading toward the Colosseum, get on bus 118 (P.LE Ostiense (MB)) 7 stops to Cameria. From there, it is a short walk to where Via Latina crosses the Aurelian Wall. |
| Time: | about 15 minutes |
| Cost: | Free |
| Hours: | Viewable at any time |
Porta Latina is a single-arched travertine gate with a brick tower on each side in southeast corner of the Aurelian Wall which is where the Via Latina passed out of Rome. The gate is a short walk from/to Porta San Sebastiano, which houses the Museum of the Wall. When I happened to arrive at the spot during the fall of 2014, the gate was covered by scaffolding, being renovated. I just hate it when that happens! Now I'll need to go back to Rome and find it all over again! There's an alpha and omega in the keystone on one side or the other that I'd like to see someday. Anyhow, the two utterly fascinating pictures from my 2014 visit are below. I apparently have no shame at all, posting pictures like these. The 3rd photo is a cast of the chi-rho keystone of Porta Latina on display in the Museum of the Wall.
| Location: | 41.87354, 12.50153 At the north end of the Appian Way on Viale delle Terme di Caracalla where it is crossed by the Aurelian Wall |
| Metro: | None, maybe Piramide, or take bus #118 |
| Time: | about 20 minutes |
| Cost: | Free to view, €3 for the museum |
| Hours: | Viewable at any time, museum hours are Tuesday - Sunday 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. |
Once called the Porta Appia, the now-named Porta San Sebastiano gate in the Aurelian Wall still stands with modern traffic flowing under it and a museum dedicated to the construction of the walls upstairs. The gate is made of brick and has imposing turrets. The Arch of Drusus stands just inside the city from the gate, visible through the gate in the 3rd photo below. The city's Wall Museum lets you go up into the towers and walk along the inside of the wall for almost a quarter mile, has a few exhibit rooms about the walls, and lets you climb on top of Porta San Sebastiano. The entrance is just inside the gate. The Viale delle Terme di Caracalla leads up to the gate, but the road's name changes when it passes under the gate into Via Appia Antica, the famous Appian Way which continues 400 miles to the south of Italy. The Fountain of Porta San Sebastiano is right across the busy street.
This gate is still in existence; it is the small gate in the side of a large structure of 4 large openings over a major road, located here. It was a secondary gate framed in travertine allowing residents to sneak in and out rather than providing a route for major traffic. Both inside and outside the gate, a stretch of paved road dating from the Roman period is still visible, in which the tracks left by cart traffic remain.
| Location: | 41.87669, 12.48145 Near the Pyramid of Cestius and the Piramide metro station |
| Metro: | Piramide |
| Time: | about 15 minutes |
| Cost: | Free |
| Hours: | Viewable at any time |
The Porta San Paolo is one of the southern gates in the Aurelian Wall. Originally it was called Porta Ostiensis because it is locate at the beginning of the Via Ostiense, the road that connects Rome with Ostia. It was later renamed to Porta San Paolo because it is the gate that leads to the basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls. The gate is massive, flanked by two cylindrical towers, and has two entrances which have been covered by a second single-opening gate built in front of the first between 530 AD and 540 AD. Maxentius had the gate built, and the two towers were made taller by Honorius. In 549, when Rome was under siege, the Ostrogoths of Totila entered through this gate. The Ostiense Museum is housed within the gatehouse. Nearby is the Protestant Cemetary, the Pyramid of Cestius, and the very worthwhile Central Montemartini Museum is a 15 minute walk south along Via Ostiense.
This gate is still in existence, located here. It's located at the end of Via Portuense, where it meets Via Porta Portese, about a block from the banks of the Tiber at the southern edge of Trastevere.
| Location: | 41.88845, 12.46149 in Largo di Porta San Pancrazio on the Janiculum Hill, about 800 feet west of the Big Fountain |
| Metro: | Piramide, see directions to the Janiculum Hill |
| Time: | 10-30 minutes |
| Cost: | ? |
| Hours: | ? |
Porta San Pancrazio is one of the southern gates in the Aurelian Wall of Rome. The road Via Aurelia Antica begins at the gate, giving the gate it's prior name of Porta Aurelia. The first version of the gate was built at the end of the Roman Republic (about 50 BC), and Emperor Aurelian incorporated it in the Aurelian Wall. During February of 537 AD, the gate gave in to the siege of the Goths led by Vitiges. The gate was rebuilt during the 17th century at its present location and orientation, which might not match exactly to it's original location. The gate now houses the Garibaldi Museum (Museo della Repubblica Romana e della Memoria Garibaldina) and is located 1/4 mile away from the Garibaldi equestrian statue at the peak of the Janiculum Hill.
| Location: | 41.89224, 12.46761 At Via di Lungara and Via Garibaldi |
| Metro: | None, take bus 280 from outside Stazione Ostiense (attached to Piramide) and get off a short way after it crosses the Tiber River |
| Time: | about 10 minutes |
| Cost: | Free |
| Hours: | Viewable at any time |
Septimius Severus had built a set of baths in Trastevere which have not yet been located exactly, but this spot held the entrance to those baths. When emperor Aurelian protected Rome with new Aurelian Wall in 275, it became a gate in those walls. Then the gate was rebuilt in 1498 by Pope Alexander VI in its current form. It is named Porta Settimiana after Septimius Severus. It marks the start of Via della Lungara, the 16th century road that connects Trastevere with the Vatican area. Since a parallel road carries most of the traffic, the gate has not needed enlargement and appears today as it was built in 1498.
This gate no longer exists, it was demolished during the Middle Ages such that it is no longer known what exactly it looked like, but it was built in the walls surrounding Castel Sant'Angelo, whose walls formed part of the Aurelian Wall, therefore located near here.