Porta di San Francesco

Porta di San Francesco is a gate of two halves, or rather two bodies of differing height. The taller left side, built in stone and brick, presents a sturdy, sloping base wall and a pitched roof of terracotta tiles. A central arched passageway is punched through it, with two rows of low-arched windows above. Inside the passage, a niche shelters an image of the Madonna. Beyond this inner gate, an outer opening with a wooden door leads down to a stone-vaulted cellar. This outer door is set into a wall of stone and brick laid in an uncertain technique; above it, the ghost of a brick arch remains, and a brick structure with two windows identical to those on the upper facade. The whole composition is capped by a wooden cornice. The downstream facade is divided: brick below, stone above, with a full round arch, a matching window, and a series of small rectangular holes. A gate is rarely just an opening; here, it is a layered, asymmetrical palimpsest of materials and centuries.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.