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The Porta Borsari, known in antiquity as the Porta Iovia due to the nearby temple dedicated to Jupiter Lustral, is one of the gates that opened along the Roman walls of Verona. The construction of the structure dates back to the second half of the 1st century BC. however, the part that has remained intact is from the first half of the 1st century. Porta Borsari was the main entrance to the Roman city, entering the important Via Postumia on the decumanus maximus.
Porta Borsari were built at the same time as the Roman curtain wall
and Porta Leoni around the second half of the 1st century BC, after the
final Romanization of Gaul Transpadana, which took place in the spring
of 49 BC. and the subsequent relocation of the city of Verona to the
bend of the Adige. The building, similar to Porta Leoni, had a square
plan with a central courtyard, a place where travelers were stopped and
controlled, and from the side of the countryside it was enclosed between
two high towers. They became the main entrance to the city, since they
were located along the decumanus maximus, the continuation of the Via
Postumia, but the importance of the gates can also be deduced from the
name that the building bore in antiquity, or the Porta Iovia: as the
temple of Jupiter. The lustral, standing in close proximity, was
dedicated to Jupiter, the main deity of the Roman pantheon. In the first
half of the first century, the gate, which was built entirely of brick,
was included in the monumentalization work to which the important
Venetian city was subjected: the intervention involved the juxtaposition
of new stone facades from the avenue of the Forum. and countryside.
Considering the importance of the structure, the main access road to
the city, there was a post station nearby in Roman times, where the
Mansips worked, who were those who received a contract for postal and
transport services, reserved for the needs of the state administration,
and iumentaria, a professional association dealing with animals and
stables cleaning. The main function of access to the city also remained
in the Middle Ages, when the name of the gate changed to Borsari, taking
its name from the bursari who at that time collected duties on incoming
and outgoing goods. Thus, with the construction of the city walls and
the walls of Scaliger, it functionally lost its significance, however,
starting from the Renaissance, it became the object of study and
observation by authors such as Giovanni Caroto and Andrea Palladio, even
if instead it was criticized by others. Sebastiano Serlio, for example,
did not find it worthy of being reproduced in his work.
Over the
centuries, the door has undergone several mutilations and today only the
facade with agro from the imperial era has survived, which underwent
major restoration interventions in the seventies and eighties of the
twentieth century: in particular, the most damaged elements were fixed
with plaster in epoxy resins or brass rods were inserted into stone, and
exposed surfaces were covered with lead plates to avoid dangerous water
stagnation.
The façade of the Iovia gate facing the city has completely
disappeared, and only one of the imperial gates towards the countryside
survives, now called Borsari. The defensive structure has a height and
width of about 13 meters, and the thickness of the masonry is 93 cm at
the base and 50 cm at the top.
The façade, made of white
Valpanten stone, has two arches on the lower floor, set on a high
plinth, which is now underground. Both arches are flanked by aedicules,
consisting of two semi-columns with Corinthian capitals supporting an
entablature and a pediment, in accordance with the architectural pattern
characteristic of the Augustan era. Above there are two other floors,
each with six windows framed with fine decoration: on the ground floor,
the two central windows are characterized by small aedicules and
assembled in the front, which are opposed to the other two at the ends
of the floor, they are also in newsstands; on the second level, the
windows are instead included between small columns surmounted by an
entablature divided into recessed and projecting bodies arranged
alternately with respect to the main order. On the other hand, the side
of the gate facing the city is devoid of decoration, since this part was
originally welded to a pre-existing brick gate from the late Republican
era, similar to those that can still be seen in Porta Leoni.
The
individual floors became part of a single composition thanks to the
remarkable ornamental richness and very pronounced color taste that were
the hallmarks of the facade, which was necessary for the representative
function that the main entrance to the Roman Verona performed.