Porta Portese, Rome

The name Porta Portese is today linked to the area in front of the ancient gateway where Rome's most famous market is held each Sunday. The market offers clothes, books and second-hand items of every imaginable type. In fact, Porta Portese was the name of the gateway built on the orders of Pope Urban VIII but only finished during the pontificate of Innocent X. It was built on the site of the more ancient Porta Portuense from which it has derived its (vulgarized) modern name. The position of the ancient gate made it enormously important as it governed the trading traffic between Rome and its port (Ostia) but, unfortunately, it was demolished and we only know of its appearance from drawings.

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