| Porta San Pellegrino | |
|---|---|
 Porta San Pellegrino | |
 Click on the map for a fullscreen view | |
| General information | |
| Location | Vatican City |
| Coordinates | 41°54′12.6″N012°27′25.74″E / 41.903500°N 12.4571500°E /41.903500; 12.4571500 |
Porta San Pellegrino is a gate in the outer wall ofVatican City. It is located beside Bernini's Colonnade and the small Vatican post; it is also known asPorta Viridaria. Rebuilt byPope Alexander VI in 1492, the gate is surmounted by his papal coat of arms. The gate is little used.[1] Originally part of the ninth-centuryLeonine Walls commissioned byPope Leo IV to defendSt. Peter's Basilica fromSaracen raids, it once marked the principal northern entrance for pilgrims. Although its military purpose has long passed, the gate's austereashlar masonry andheraldic reliefs still evoke its defensive and ceremonial significance.
Porta San Pellegrino originally formed one of the three principal entrances in theLeonine Walls, consecrated byPope Leo IV on 27 June 852 to defendSt. Peter's Basilica and the surroundingBorgo district from Saracen raids.[2] The ancientVia Trionfale led directly under this gate, guiding pilgrims from the centre of the future piazza towards Monte Mario. In 1411 the antipapalJohn XXIII demolished the gate's original towers, leaving the medieval wall weakened. Mid-century,Pope Nicholas V extended the Vatican’s northern enclosure, and Porta San Pellegrino thereafter marked the junction between thePassetto di Borgo and the new fortifications. Pope Alexander VI undertook a full reconstruction in 1492, adding two square crenellated towers and affixing his family's arms and a Latin dedicatory inscription above the interior arch.[3] AfterPope Pius IV's mid-16th-century enlargement of Borgo, the gate lay beyond the new defensive line and was closed in 1563; it remained sealed untilPope Leo XII reopened it in 1823 to give thePontifical Swiss Guard direct access to their barracks.[4]
The surviving fabric of Porta San Pellegrino consists of a single semicircular stone arch flanked by low, square towers topped withmachicolated parapets. The inner face bears the Borgia coat of arms—a bull and an eagle—in highrelief, set beneath a weathered inscription commemorating Alexander VI's restorations. The ashlarmasonry and minimal decorative carving reflect the gate's strictly military function, while the scale of its towers hints at its role as a key access point to the papal city.[3]
Today the gate stands almost hidden beneath the buildings of the Apostolic Palace and sees little pedestrian traffic. On 6 February 2015, however, the Vatican announced completion of a small welfare facility immediately adjacent to Bernini's Colonnade, providing three daily showers and a barber's chair for homeless pilgrims (closed on Wednesdays and during large events), along with hygiene kits.[5]
Media related toPorta San Pellegrino at Wikimedia Commons
