Porta Romana di Amelia

Porta Romana is the largest and most central of the gates into Amelia's historic centre. Rebuilt in travertine in the sixteenth century over an ancient entrance of the Via Amerina, it preserves the city's coat of arms on its vaulted passage and a votive inscription associated with the earthquake of 1703.

Why it matters

The Via Amerina entered Roman Ameria through this gate and continued as the town's main axis. The present structure is a sixteenth-century rebuilding in dressed travertine, on the line of the ancient entrance. Medieval statutes made the gate a ceremonial threshold of government; the official tourism page records an August ceremony reenacting the arrival of the Podestà under the 1346 statute.

What to notice

The round arch is about four metres wide and six metres high, set in a frontage about sixteen metres tall and nearly eleven metres across. On the vault is the city's coat of arms with the letters A.P.C.A., for Antiani Populi Civitatis Ameriae. Below the brick machicolation is a metal copy of a Madonna image. A plaque above the arch records the city's 1703 vow to the Virgin after it survived the earthquake. The original wooden panel is preserved in the municipal museum. Chestnut-wood doors close the passage.

Context and history

In the Middle Ages the gate was known as Busolina, a name whose origin is uncertain. The sixteenth-century rebuilding gave it a travertine facade and the name that recalls the Via Amerina. It survived the 1703 earthquake, after which the city made its votive dedication. A comprehensive restoration took place at the end of 2013. The gate remains part of the southern approach to Amelia's historic centre.