Gates of the Etruscan City

Arco Etrusco (Arco d' Augusto)


This was the main entrance to the Etruscan city, at the northern end of the Cardus Maximus.  The lower part of the structure survives from the Etruscan period, but the upper part seems to have been rebuilt after the sack of the city during the Perusine Wars (41-40 BC).

The entrance arch is set into a wall between two trapezoidal towers: the loggia above the tower on the left was added in the 15th century and the fountain at its base was added in 1536. 

A frieze separates the main arch from a blind arch above.

The upper part of the gate contains two Roman inscriptions:

  • The inscription "Augusta Perusia" on the two courses of bricks that form the lower arch dates to the time of the rebuilding by the Emperor Augustus.

  • The inscription  "Colonia Vibia" below the frieze was added in ca. 253 AD to celebrate the honorary title given to the city by the Emperor Gaius Vibius Trebonianus Gallus  (whose family had originated in Etruscan Perugia)

According to tradition, Pope Hadrian I took the original bronze gates to Rome in 780.

Porta Trasimena (Porta San Luca)


 


This gate led to the important commercial thoroughfare that linked the city to Lake Trasimeno and Chiusi.  The gate was largely was rebuilt in the Middle Ages, although what seems to be an Etruscan lion survives to the left.  The significance of the symbols at the apex of the arch is unclear.

Arco della Mandorla

This arch has been recomposed from the original Etruscan blocks.  Parts of the original inscriptions celebrating Perusia Augusta and Colonia Vibia (see Arco Etrusco above) are now dispersed among the masonry.  The easiest to see are:

  • an “S” below the protruding lion on the left; and








  • the letters “VIB” on a stone on the left about a meter above the ground.

Porta Marzia

 
Remains of Porta Marzia embedded
into the wall of Rocca Paolina

 

Detail of a fresco (late 15th century) by Benedetto Bonfigli showing Totila's
 army outside Porta Marzia
Cappella dei Priori





















This was the main entrance to the Etruscan city, at the southern end of the Cardus Maximus.   It might have been named for a nearby temple dedicated to Mars.  It was demolished in 1542 during the construction of Rocca Paolina and the remains of its upper part were embedded in the fortress the walls, close to its original position.   The original travertine abutments can be seen about 4 meters behind the present wall.

Three male figures (probably the god Tinia or Zeus and the Dioscuri) and two horses lean over a parapet in the frieze above the arch.  The remains of another three unidentified figures appear above and to the sides of the arch.  The gate included the same inscriptions as on Arco Etrusco (see above):

  • "Augusta Perusia", on the architrave; and

  • "Colonia Vibia”, on the cornice above.

The original position of the gate and the walls to either side of it can be seen a few meters inside the entrance in the curtain wall to the excavated area under Rocca Paolina.





Arco dei Gigli

This arch was largely was rebuilt in the Middle Ages.  The remains of an earlier arch can be seen high on the right, and the Etruscan foundations survive in the base at the left.







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