Porta Santa Maria

Northen side of the town, Porta S.Maria Map of the town

The construction of Porta Santa Maria, which stands on the northern side of the city walls (between the bulwark of S. Martino and the platform of S. Frediano) was necessary because of the unfortunate position of Porta dei Borghi. In fact it was too vulnerable to protect the town because it stood at the junction of two city sides and in view of the many fortification attempts, which failed, the construction of a new gate was decided. The plan for the new gate, built between 1549 and 1592, was worked out by Ginese Bresciani, but the works were supervised by Michelangelo Gabrielli. Porta Santa Maria, whose side entrances were built only later, is the simplest one.


On the inner façade, over the central structure, we see a bas-relief, depicting S. Peter. On the outer façade, in the central niche, which is embellished by a marble frame, there is a marble statue, depicting the Virgin and Child, that was carved by Giuseppe da Genova in 1595. In the side niches, surrounded by quadrangular verrucano (a sedimentary rock) borders, we see two white marble statues, depicting two panthers, that symbolize the town and hold tightly in their legs the Republic weapons. As the works finished, the problem of how to use the surrounding spaces was raised. It was necessary that outside the gate there was an area without houses or buildings.
As for the Porta dei Borghi the Offizio (the government of Lucca) decided to buy the adjacent buildings to destroy them. In May of 1594, the Offizio suggested to put on the outer side of the gate two lions' statues and a Virgin with Child (put here in August of 1595) and on the inner side a statue of S. Peter. Balbani was given the direction of the works. First it was suggested to reuse the lions' statues of Porta dei Borghi, but the Offizio didn't like the idea very much.

Outside part of Porta S.Maria  

So it was decided to put on the outer side two panthers' statues, which best represented the strength and the pride of the town. In 1604 it was established that the allotments, got from the enlargement of the city walls, were put up on sale. After the visit of the engineer Tedeschino (1640), Porta Santa Maria was subjected to a further fortification intervention. According to Tedeschino the defence system was too weak because the guards were cut off, as they lowered the portcullis.
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