Porta di Levante

The Gate of the Levant, also called “door of Burgo”, or “port of St. George” from an image of the patron saint of the town (now completely faded), painted in a special box which is still visible on the face (similar examples , and far more illustrious of the city gates placed under the protection of St. George are the Porta San Giorgio in Florence and Schwabthor of Freiburg im Breisgau): the rest is most conspicuous and best preserved ancient city wall of the castle. The door, which looks like a gate tower quadrangular, was equipped for the defense pouncing and insightful, with trap doors open between the corbels that support, on a pointed arches slightly lowered, the projection provided in ancient battlements Guelph (that is parallelepiped ). The Port of Levante, crossed by way Cimicone, used to is a pointed arch whose armilla is decorated with a simple molding. The architectural features indicate as period of construction the end of the thirteenth century, and this hypothesis is reinforced by the fact that the systematic fortification of the country has reached the contemporary autonomy of the City, already obtained in 1291 by permission of Pope Nicholas IV. The gate tower was restored in 1433 by order of Francesco Sforza and on that occasion, just above the nose cone, would open the slot intended to act as a gunship.