The starting point of the tour is piazzale Flaminio, very easy to reach from any part of Rome: there is "Flaminio" subway station (line A), and several bus stops.

On the southern side of the square stands the mighty Porta del Popolo [map ref. 1], the northernmost gate of Aurelian's walls, located along the ancient via Flaminia: this road, built in the 3rd century BC by consul Caius Flaminius, ran straight from the Capitolium hill, reaching the northern inland territories as far ar Ariminum (now Rimini), on the Adriatic coast, over 300 Km (or 220 miles) from Rome. Furthermore, another important northbound road, via Cassia, springs from via Flaminia a few kilometres off this spot: therefore, any traveller that once approached Rome from anywhere in the north, would have entered the city through this gate.

(← left) the outer side of Porta del Popolo, as it is today; (right →) the shape with a single archway
and two stout towers into which the gate changed, from the 1500s to the late 1800s, in an etching by Giuseppe Vasi

The aforementioned roads are presently still in use, and both of them have maintained their original names. Instead the name of the gate may have two different origins.
One of them is that poplar trees (in Latin populi) once may have grown over this site, while the other version says that a small chapel called Santa Maria del Popolo (St. Mary of the People) was built on the inner side of the gate in 1099, by pope Paschal II, in order to drive away the ghost of emperor Nero who, according to a legend, haunted this place (see also Legendary Rome, page 8); the expenses for the making of the chapel were paid by the city administrators, i.e. with the money of the people, whence the name. The chapel was enlarged into a church in the 1200s, and then rebuilt into its present shape in the second half of the 1400s.

In Roman times this gate was called Porta Flaminia, after the road that crossed it, while during the Middle Ages it was also called St.Valentine's Gate, because about 1 Km or half mile further north, the Flaminian Way runs by the catacombs where the famous saint was buried.

	Up to the 1500s, the shape of the gate was still the same as it was in Roman times, i.e. a simple archway built with bricks, lower than the present one, flanked by two large semicircular towers; its outer side was covered with a thick white stone facing, an alteration that emperor Honorius had carried out to all the main city gates around year 400. The ground level, though, in time had considerably risen, so that in the 16th century the gate appeared partly buried. In 1562-65, pope Pius IV had it completely rebuilt in a Renaissance fashion. Michelangelo had been commissioned for its making, but since he was busy at the time, the work was handed over to another distinguished architect, Nanni di Baccio Bigio. The new shape of the gate resembled that of a huge doorway, similar to the one of the many mansions where the rich and noble families lived. In this way, the new Porta del Popolo combined its traditional function, i.e. a protected approach to the city, with a highly decorative design, which almost conceiled its main defensive purpose.	St.Peter and St.Paul, by Francesco Mochi (c.1630)

During the same century, two more gates were built in a similar fashion: Porta Pia (described in page 3) and Porta San Giovanni (part III, page 1), but none of the two replaced an original Roman structure, as this one did.

Nanni di Baccio Bigio designed the new Porta del Popolo as a tall central archway encased between two stout towers with a square section (see the etching above).

Porta del Popolo, from the inside

The columns on its outer side come from the ancient basilica of St.Peter's, which in those years was being taken down in order to build the present one. The coat of arms of Pius IV hangs from the attic, while the crenellation above the gate has a rather fancy shape, resembling small stylized busts of soldiers in armour. Then, around 1630, the statues of St.Peter and St.Paul (picture above), saint patrons of the city of Rome, were added to the gate; Francesco Mochi, a distinguished sculptor of the Baroque age, had carved them for the basilica of St.Paul, but for some reason they were refused, so they were relocated here. detail of the crenellation

When in 1655 the Swedish queen Christina came to Rome, invited by pope Alexander VII, Gianlorenzo Bernini was asked to add a large heraldic device of the Chigi family (whom the pope belonged to) on the inner side of the attic, together with an inscription in Latin that reads: « may your entrance be prosperous and happy »		plaque with the coat of arms of Pius IV (outer side) and the device of Alexander VII added by Bernini to the innner side

In 1879, in order to deal with the increased traffic that crossed the gate, architect Virginio Vespignani took down the square towers replacing tham with two archways, smaller than the central one; on the same occasion four more columns were added to the gate, similar in shape to the ancient original ones.

During these works, some remains of the original Roman structure were also found, which gave the evidence that this once really was Porta Flaminia, and allowed to detect the height of the ancient ground level, rather lower than the present one. Stepping back into piazzale Flaminio, looking towards the gate, on the right the wall soon comes to an end, while on the opposite side it follows the Pincio Hill. This stretch of wall, as well as the road winding around its base, has been called Muro Torto ("crooked wall") because by the first bend a short part collapsed, not long after having bee built. Historian Procopius of Caesarea wrote that the Romans called it Murus Ruptus, i.e. "broken wall" (Gothic War I, XXIII). For this reason, during the Middle Ages it was also called Muro Malo ("evil wall").

the Muro Torto

The same grounds by this stretch of wall, located outside the urban boundary, once used to be ill-famed because in the days of old non-Christians, prostitutes, convicts who refused to repent before thir execution, and in general anybody whose burial was refused by the city churches, were buried here. This is probably why the aforesaid legend about the ghost of Nero was born. Follow the grass on the left side of the road, next to the narrow path, keeping close to the edge. The wall soon reaches a height of about 20 metres, surrounding the eastern side of the steep Pincio Hill, then the northern one. ← the eastern side of the Pincio: the stout tower is not an ancient placement for guards, but a lift built in c.1900, now no longer working

In ancient times, important families owned mansions and gardens in this area: one of the largest belonged to the Pincii family, whence the name given to the site through the centuries.

After a rather sharp bend, also the villa's grounds grow steep; here the difference in level with via del Muro Torto is considerable. We are now climbing towards the bridge that links Villa Borghese to the Pincio gardens; until the early 1900's, being a private property, Villa Borghese had no access to this area, whose top could be reached only from the opposite side of the hill; after becoming a public park - the king of Italy bought it from the Borghese family - within a few years this bridge was built, as a comfortable and charming approach to the gardens, crossing via del Muro Torto from above. A quick diversion along these shady avenues, decorated with a large number of marble busts of outstanding Italian artists and scientists, won't take away much time. Cross the bridge, and follow the first avenue on the right: you will soon come to a rather unusual water-clock [map ref. a], built in 1807: its outer structure is mostly made of wood, while inside it has a complicated and delicate mechanism propelled by water. Its author was a Dominican priest called Giovanbattista Imbriaco; his surname, which sounds as "drunken" in Roman dialect, is a common pun for locals.

the water-clock

the balcony in piazzale Napoleone
On the left, the skyline is crammed with domes belonging to the many ancient churches of the historical centre. On the right, in the distance, the tall aerial of the national TV broadcasting company marks the top of Rome's tallest hill, Monte Mario.

Walking back to the bridge, you might also wish to visit the Pincio gardens (see the relevant page in Curious and Unusual), where a roman obelisk stands [map ref. c] (see the Obelisks monograph for more details).