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File
Roman gate "Borsari" – Verona
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Corso Porta Borsari, at the corner with the street “via A. Diaz” – 37100 Verona (VR)
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Summary
“Porta Borsari” was built around mid I century A.D., it was one of the urban gates of Roman Verona and it marked the entrance of the road “Via Postumia” in the city.
History of research
The monument has always remained visible.
Urban and geographical context
Verona is located along the Adige river, where this enters in the Po plain, at about thirty kilometres east to the Garda lake. Its altitude is 59 metres above sea level and it is placed at the basis of the Lessini mountains. The gate “Porta Borsari” is located along the south-western side of the city walls, at the entrance of the road “Via Postumia” in the city.
Chronology
I century A.D. (mid) |
The original name of the gate “Porta Borsari”, which we know from an inscription, was “Porta Iovia” and derived from the temple of Jupiter, that was located just out of this gate. The modern name dates back to low Medieval times and derives from the word “bursarii”, the people who collected custom duties. The gate “Porta Borsari” marked the monumental entrance of the road “Via Postumia” in town. It was built between the I century B.C. and the I century A.D. and it consisted in a rectangular-shaped building with inner court and double arches on the two fronts. Around mid I century A.D. the original bricks structure was covered with an external façade in white stone from the Valpantena valley. The countryside part of this façade remains today, with two niched arched passages and with two levels of six windows alternated to architectural ledges. The overall height of the remaining façade is 13 metres. On the architrave above the windows there are the remains of the inscription that the emperor Gallienus had graved as a reminder of the date when he had the city walls restored, that is between 3 April and 4 December 265 A.D. |
Visitability: Esterno
Ticket: No
School access
Recommended tour time (minutes): 20
Information boards
Beschi L. 1960, Verona romana. I monumenti, in Verona e il suo territorio, I, Verona, pp. 369-552. |
Beschi L. 1980, Porta Borsari, in Palladio e Verona, Catalogo della mostra (Verona 1980), a cura di Marini P., Vicenza, pp. 68-71. |
Mangani E., Rebecchi F., Strazzulla M.J. 1981, Emilia, Venezie (Guide Archeologiche Laterza), Bari, pp. 174-175. |
Cavalieri Manasse G. 1987, Verona, in Il Veneto nell’età romana, II, a cura di Cavalieri Manasse G., Verona, pp. 12. |
Cavalieri Manasse G. 1993, Le mura di Verona, in Mura delle città romane in Lombardia, Atti del Convegno (Como 1990), Como, pp. 179-215. |
Archeologia a Verona 2000, a cura di Bolla M., Milano, pp. 59-60. |
I luoghi della cultura 2006, Roma. |
Bonetto J. 2009, Veneto (Archeologia delle Regioni d’Italia), Roma, pp. 447-448. |
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