Porta Sant'Angelo

At the north-western edge of Perugia, Porta Sant'Angelo combines a medieval gatehouse with later additions. The gateway gives its name to the surrounding borgo and stands on the route to the early Christian church of San Michele Arcangelo.

Why it matters

Perugia's walls expanded around older circuits, and Porta Sant'Angelo records the medieval phase of that history. The Comune identifies it as the largest of the city's medieval gates. The gate takes its name from the church of San Michele Arcangelo beyond it; the same dedication gave its name to the surrounding rione.

What to notice

The cassero, or fortified gatehouse, has three external levels in different materials. The lowest is sandstone; the middle level, built in the 1370s, is limestone; the upper level is brickwork from the early fifteenth century. Guelph battlements crown the structure. The keep conversion completed in 1479 added trapdoors, slits and embrasures. The nearby borgo climbs towards the circular Tempio di San Michele Arcangelo.

Context and history

The commune fortified the gate in 1326, entrusting the work to Ambrogio Maitani. In the 1370s, the papal legate Gérard du Puy, Abbot of Cluny, added a second level and linked the gate strategically with the fortresses of Porta Sole and Porta di Sant'Antonio. Between 1416 and 1424, the architect Fioravante Fioravanti added the brick crown on the orders of Braccio Fortebracci. The keep conversion was completed in 1479. The gate was also known as Porta degli Armeni, after a nearby Basilian monastery, and bore the names San Matteo and San Cristoforo transferred from an older gate on the road below. From the 1990s, the building housed the Museo delle Porte e Mura Urbiche; the Comune now lists it as the seat of the Museum of Ancient Musical Instruments.