Porta San Pietro

Southern side of the town, Porta S.Pietro

Porta San Pietro, which is imposing and rich in decorations, stands on the southern side of the city walls between the Bulwarks of San Colombano and Santa Maria. It was built between 1565 and 1566 by Alessandro Resta, an engineer from Milan, who worked out also its plan. On the outer façade, embellished by decorations of verrucano (a sedimentary rock) and covered with bricks, we can see three entrances with a stringcourse of sandstone. Here there are also two niches, containing two lions' statues, which were part of the old gate of the Middle Ages, which stood southeast to the current one.

In the middle we can see the shield with the coat of arms of St. Peter., the inscription "Libertas" and the two holes, through which ran over the chains of the drawbridge. Porta San Pietro differs from the other gates of the city walls for its elegance and its very varied structure with the classical tympanum and the three rooms on the top storey of the building, where we can see an open gallery. The side doors on the inner façade were built only later than the whole building. Nothing remains of the old gate, which was destroyed because it became quite useless after the enlargement of the city walls. It was in view of this fact that the Offizio (the government of the town) referred to Alessandro Resta to work out an approximate plan with the measurements of the new gate. The engineer from Milan, who was working in Lucca to the construction of the Bulwark of Santa Maria, worked out a plan, which was approved only after the comparison with that one of Panciotto.

The facade of Porta S.Pietro

Before 20th June 1565 (the date, set out by the Offizio for the beginning of the construction of the new gate) they were started the works to eliminate the difference in level between the inner and outer parts of the "chiudenda" (a sort of wooden way, which was placed on the same spot, where the gate was afterwards built).

Also the building, used by the guards, was demolished because it hindered the works. At their end there was nevertheless no short of critiques; in 1577 the water infiltrations through the roof damaged seriously the whole structure and in 1605 the roof carved in. This two events led people to doubt the suitability of the place, where the gate was built. Crossing Piazza Umberto I (outer the city walls) and going into the city through Porta San Pietro, we turn on the left into Via Carrara and then on the right into Via San Girolamo. Walking along Via San Girolamo, after getting over Via della Polveriera, Corso Garibaldi and Via del Sasso, we reach Piazza Napoleone.