Description of the attraction
Porta Palio, which means "the gate of the lists" in Italian, is a relatively young gate built in Verona in the middle of the 16th century by the architect Michele Sanmicheli on behalf of the Venetian Republic. Sanmikeli was also the author of the Porta Nuova gate.
The ports of Palio were part of the city's defensive fortifications, although in reality they never performed any military functions. The name of these gates comes from the city lists - the square for equestrian competitions, on the site of which they were built. Previously, there was the Porta San Massimo gate, built in the Middle Ages on the orders of Cangrande della Scala. There is also evidence that the gate was originally called Porta Stupa.
An interesting attraction of Porta Palio is the fact that the gate has different facades: the one that faces the city consists of one arch and is lined with rustic wood, and the one overlooking the road is made in a classical style and consists of five arches that form a covered gallery. The gate itself stands between the Bastion of St. Bernardino and the Bastion of the Holy Spirit, a little closer to the first. The rectangular base consists of a large arched opening leading to a covered gallery behind and two small side arches. The entire building has two floors: on the upper one there were once several rooms for the guard. The cladding of the external facade with Doric semi-columns is made of polished local tuff and rusticated stone. The inner facade forms a covered gallery of a large order (the columns cover both floors), consisting of 6 arches supported by monumental pillars. The gate was equipped with wooden suspension bridges that descended on a stone bridge that crossed the defensive moat.
Until the end of the 18th century, the Porta Palio was considered a masterpiece of military architecture; they were written about in numerous thematic treatises as an excellent example of a city gate. Giorgio Vasari described them as "new, extravagant and beautiful." With the help of these gates, Sanmicheli wanted to highlight the entrance to Verona from the Postumian road - one of the main transport routes of Italy since the time of Ancient Rome.
