Porta Leoni is one of the gates that opened along the Roman walls of Verona. Built in the 1st century BC. and restored in the following century, it connected the main point of the city with the Vicus Veronensium, or with a branch of the Via Claudia Augusta, which continued towards Hostilia.
Construction in the Roman Republican Era
The gate's origins date
back to the 1st century BCE, specifically around 50-40 BCE during the
late Roman Republic. It was constructed by four Roman officials: P.
Valerius, Q. Caecilius, Q. Servilius, and P. Cornelius, who served as
quadrumvirs (a board of four magistrates) overseeing public works in the
city. At this time, Verona was a burgeoning Roman colony, strategically
positioned in the Po Valley, and the gate formed part of the city's
initial defensive circuit. The original structure was built using tuff
(a porous volcanic rock) and brick, materials common in Republican-era
architecture for their durability and availability.
The design
featured a square plan with an internal courtyard, double arches on the
façades, and upper-floor galleries for defensive purposes. The external
façade facing the countryside was flanked by two polygonal towers that
connected seamlessly to the city walls, which stood approximately 13
meters high—matching the height of the gate itself. Numerous windows
punctuated the towers and galleries, likely for surveillance and
archery. This configuration not only provided military utility but also
symbolized Roman engineering prowess, emphasizing symmetry and
functionality in urban planning.
Restructuring During the
Imperial Period
In the 1st century CE, under the Roman Empire, Porta
Leoni underwent significant renovations to enhance its aesthetic and
structural integrity. The original brick façades were overlaid with
white local stone, replicating the earlier architectural elements but
incorporating richer decorative motifs. This imperial facelift aligned
with broader Augustan-era urban renewal projects across Italy, where
Verona benefited from its status as a key hub in the Via Postumia road
network.
The updated design included a single archway on the inner
façade, framed by a shrine-like structure and surmounted by curved and
squared windows. Higher up, an exedra (a semicircular recess) was added,
flanked by twisted columns—possibly once adorned with statues. The lower
section of the gate bears similarities to another surviving Verona gate,
Porta Borsari, suggesting a standardized approach to imperial
fortifications in the region. Unfortunately, much of the original
decorations, such as reliefs or inscriptions, have been lost over time
due to weathering, reuse of materials, and urban development.
Evolution of the Name and Medieval to Renaissance Periods
The
original Roman name of the gate remains unknown, as no contemporary
inscriptions specify it. During the Middle Ages, it was called Porta San
Fermo, owing to its proximity to the nearby Church of San Fermo
Maggiore. By the Renaissance, it was referred to as Arco di Valerio,
possibly in reference to one of its builders, P. Valerius.
The
current name, Porta Leoni (Gate of the Lions), emerged in the 15th
century, inspired by a nearby Roman stone sarcophagus decorated with two
lion figures. This tomb was later relocated behind the monument to
Umberto I near Ponte Navi. In the 13th century, the surviving remnants
of the gate were incorporated into a medieval palace, which has been
remodeled multiple times, effectively preserving parts of the structure
while embedding it within later architecture.
Archaeological
Discoveries and Remains
Today, only half of the inner façade from the
Republican era remains visible, along with its imperial stone overlay
and foundations. Archaeological excavations beneath Via Leoni have
revealed additional elements, including part of the side wall (with
connections to the city walls), fragments of the internal courtyard
pavement, and the basements of the great polygonal towers—one of which
is exposed, while the other is preserved in the cellars of a nearby
building. These findings, uncovered in modern times, highlight how the
gate was buried and integrated into Verona's evolving urban fabric, with
the medieval façade concealing much of the Roman original.
Thanks to numerous archaeological excavations and the study of the
preserved elevation, where two elevations of the republican and imperial
eras face each other, scientists have managed to reconstruct the image
of the ancient city gates.
The building, built almost entirely of
brick in the late Republican era, was a square structure measuring 16.70
m on each side with a central rectangular courtyard, double arches 330
cm wide and 525 cm high on the facades and galleries on the upper
floors. . At the corners of the building, from the agro side, there were
two high polygonal towers with sixteen sides, 7.40 meters in diameter.
At ground level, the defensive structure was interrupted only by arches
and, probably, by narrow passages for access to the towers, from which,
with the help of a system of wooden stairs, one could climb to the upper
floors. Thus, on the second and third levels there were two rows of
galleries, of which the lower one gave access to the battlemented
passage of the walls. The galleries and towers were illuminated by a
series of vaulted windows (160 cm high and 60 cm wide on the second
level and 180 cm high and 60 cm wide on the third), which created a
strict and uniform design on the outside. Instead, the façade
overlooking the city was more elaborate: on the top floor, the four
central windows were replaced by a large Doric loggia. The building
contained (about 13 meters high) a roof with a wooden frame.
The
city gates were characterized by strict string entablature and elements
of a predominantly Ionic order, although the Doric style appeared in the
frieze on the second level and in the loggia on the third. Points
subject to greater wear or stress and decorations were made from blocks
of local tuff, the trabeza on the third level was made from terracotta
and the rest of the masonry was made from brick.
During the
imperial era, this predominantly brick building was supported by two new
white stone facades from Valpantena, of which the one on the city side
still exists and overlaps the republican one, retreating a little more
than half a meter. This stone façade is a scheme on the lower floor,
which does not differ much from that of the Porta Borsari, which has
undergone a similar monumental intervention, being an arch framed in an
aedicule, composed of two half-columns with Corinthian capitals
supporting an entablature and a pediment. The intermediate level has a
rather simple construction, with windows framed by linear elements in
very low relief, while the upper level has a particularly slender
exedra, enclosed between thin twisted columns that emphasize the
vertical tension of the solution.
Registration
An inscription
walled up above the middle column of Porta Leoni was found during the
restoration work of the building in 1965: this inscription is of great
importance, as it is considered the birth certificate of Roman of
Verona. The inscription, which has in fact already been identified by
some of the Renaissance artists who reported the names of the
quattuorviri, is characterized by four important lines of text:
"P. VALERIUS P. [F.] / Q. CAECILIUS [Q. F.] / Q. SERVILIUS [F.] / P.
CORNELIUS [F.] / IIII VIR MURUM PORTA[S] / CLUACAS D. D. [FECERUNT] / P.
VALERIUS P. [F.] / Q. CAELILIUS Q. [F. PROBARUNT]."
In the
epigraph, we recognize the names of the municipal quarters responsible
for the opening of the monument, authorized to build the walls, gates,
towers and sewers of the city.