Long Ago in Spoleto: see this monument?

January 21, 2022 News, Offerte, Visore Home No comments

Can you recognise it?

It is one of the most important historical gates to the city, forming part of the medieval walls. Although well preserved, it underwent several restorations and renovations over the centuries that have somewhat altered its appearance.

This is the San Matteo gate – thus named because of its proximity to the ancient hospital housed in the monastery of the same name – also called the Loreto gate, because in the direction of the seventeenth-century sanctuary.

The photo kept in the photographic section of the Carducci library refers to somewhere in time between 1895 and 1915. On these two dates, the monument suffered major damage in two earthquakes. In 1895, a disastrous earthquake hit the upper part of the gate, which was restored, only to be hit again in 1915, when the hovel that served as a customs house, shown on the left of the photo, was also damaged. However, an inscription on the inside of the gate reminds us that it was already restored as early as 1673.

From issue 22 of “Spoletium” – in an article by Silvestro Nessi dedicated to the ancient and recent restoration of the city walls and gates – the interesting drawing we propose here shows the situation of the monument in the nineteenth century, before the damage.

Nessi’s article also contains some historical notes: the gate’s construction was decided in 1296 because of the city’s expansion, which led to the creation of wider ring-walls to include the new townships.

Before 1296, the following gates existed (although some of them had lost their role due to urban expansion): San Lorenzo (traces of which remain at the end of Via S. Agata and in a corner of Palazzo Mongalli), San Pietro (the present arch of Monterone), Postierla (just below Porta Fuga), Trinità (under the church of the same name in Via della Fonte Pescaia), Ponziana (then higher than the present gate). In the municipal statutes of 1296, it was decided to build three new monumental entrances to incorporate the new buildings that had sprung up downstream from the old gates: outside Porta San Pietro (the arch of Monterone) the current Porta Monterone was built, outside the old Porta Ponzianina the current Porta Ponzianina near the Tessino stream, and Porta San Matteo, the latter to include the already populous district that had sprung up outside Porta San Lorenzo, the city side known as ‘borgaccio’.

Porta San Matteo (St. Matthew’s Gate), one of the ancient city gates still existing, is composed of concealed stones and materials from ancient buildings. The old wooden doors are still visible.

Recently, in March 2021, restoration work on the wooden structure of the gate was completed by the Carispo Foundation.

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