Discover Porta Borsari

Porta Borsari stands in the middle of a shopping street in Verona, and most people walk past it without stopping. It is a Roman city gate of the first century AD, and the best preserved in the city.

There is no ticket, no railing and no opening time. The street runs through where the carriageways were, and the shops on either side press right up against it.

The inscription across it records the rebuilding of Verona's walls in 265 AD under the emperor Gallienus -- and states, with some pride, that the work took 259 days.

What survives is the inner face of the gate, in white Verona limestone, and it is more elaborate than a defensive structure needs to be -- this was a piece of civic display.

At ground level are two arched openings, the twin carriageways, framed by engaged columns.

Above them rise two storeys of aedicules: rows of small arched windows set between fluted columns with capitals, each pair topped by a pediment. The rhythm is what makes the gate: a defensive wall treated as a facade.

The inscription runs in large letters across the entablature above the arches.

Behind this face the gate originally had a courtyard flanked by towers -- the standard Roman arrangement, trapping attackers between two sets of doors. None of that survives; the street simply carries on.

Display, not defence. What survives is the inner face, in white Verona limestone, and it is far more elaborate than a gate needs to be. Two arched carriageway openings at ground level are framed by engaged columns; above them rise two storeys of arched windows in aedicules. This was the face the city showed arrivals.

Only the front is left. A Roman gate of this type was a deep structure — twin passages, flanking towers and an inner courtyard. All of that is gone; what stands is essentially the decorative screen, preserved because later buildings were built against it rather than through it.

The stone is local and the technique is not. The limestone comes from the hills north of the city, but the orders, proportions and aedicule windows are standard imperial Roman practice applied wherever the empire built. It is a provincial city speaking the metropolitan language correctly.

The street is the evidence. The modern road passes through the openings on the Roman alignment. The gate did not survive the city; the city kept using the gate.

Is there a ticket? No. It stands in the open street, always accessible, free.

Why is it in the middle of a street? Because the street is Roman. Corso Porta Borsari follows the decumanus maximus, so the gate is where the Roman wall line crossed it — the city grew outward and left it in place.

Is the other side the same? No — only the inner facade survives. The passages, towers and courtyard behind it are gone.