Porta dei Borghi, Medieval city gate in Lucca, Italy
Porta dei Borghi is a medieval gate featuring two gray sandstone towers decorated with white limestone and a central opening. The passage is spanned by a round arch that dominates the structure.
Porta dei Borghi was built between 1198 and 1265 as the northern gateway of Lucca's medieval walls, which stood about 12 metres high with semicircular and square towers. Of the four monumental gates of that 13th-century circuit, only this one and Porta San Gervasio survive, the rest being demolished when the Renaissance walls were built. Its role as northern entry ended in the second half of the 16th century, when Porta Santa Maria took over that function.
In the passage below the arch, a lunette frames a Madonna and Child fresco attributed to Gaspare Mannucci, restored by the Comune di Lucca in 2008. The gate stood at the end of Via Fillungo, the street of the city's merchants, so the image faced those arriving from the north.
The gate sits at the northern end of Via Fillungo and is easily reached on foot from the city center. Its location makes it simple to visit alongside other medieval structures in the area.
The two towers originally had battlements and a walkway linking their tops; that connecting structure no longer exists. The gate once had two openings, but one was walled up, leaving the single eight-metre arch seen today.
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