Porta San Pancrazio

History

The gate rises close to the summit of the Janiculum hill and its first building could date back to the end of the Roman Republic, when a humble housing cluster on the right bank of the Tiber was surrounded by a little urban wall. It later marked the southern vertex of the stretch of the wall, built in 270 by Emperor Aurelian, that climbed the hill with a triangle-shaped layout.

One of the relevant characteristics of the 14th Region, where the gate rose, was that Via Aurelia vetus passed through it: the street started from Pons Aemilius, climbed the hill and exited from the town just through the gate, that took its name from the street (even now, the present Via Aurelia Antica, having lost its stretch within Trastevere, starts here). For this reason, the former name of the gate was Porta Aurelia, though the denominations "Gianicolense" or "Aureliana" – from the name of the consul that conceived and built the road – are attested. The importance of the near sepulchre of the Christian martyr Pancras, of the catacomb consecrated to him and later of the Basilica, destinations of continual pilgrimages, became so much prevalent along the consular street, as to influence, just like in many other cases, the process of Christianization of the nomenclature of the Roman gates, and since the 6th century the gate was bestowed the name it maintains to this day.

In the vicinity, on the inner side, there were the public mills, placed close to the merge of the aqueduct called Aqua Traiana, which operated until the end of the Middle Ages.

The original aspect of the gate is absolutely unknown and probably it also rose in a slightly different position. Some clues dating back to 16th and 17th century might lead to suppose that it had a single arch with two quadrangular towers on its sides, thus confirming the typical structure of all the restorations carried up by Emperor Honorius at the beginning of the 5th century.

In February 537, it was reported that the gate was taken by the besieging Goths led by Vitiges. This report was later determined to be a false alarm by Belisarius. …