Overview
Also known as Porta Prenestina, it stands white and solemn in a busy traffic area, between Porta Maggiore and Labicano squares. It dates back to 52 A.D and was originally part of the Aqua Claudia aqueduct, of which it was a lavish monumental section: in the gate's structure, the conduits for water flow can still be seen. Between 270 and 275, it was converted into a gate and included in the city walls erected by Emperor Aurelian to defend Rome from the barbarians. On the side facing Piazzale Labicano, inscriptions can be seen dating back to the construction of the work in the time of Claudius and to the restoration of the aqueducts conducted by Emperors Vespasian in 71 and Titus in 81. On more than one occasion over the centuries, the two arches of the gate were walled up and then reopened.
Next to the gate stands another structure made of white marble, pierced by nine circular cavities: it is a late Republican funerary monument dating from between 30 and 20 B.C, whose frieze with scenes depicting the production and sale of bread leaves no doubt: it belonged to the baker Eurysaces and his wife Atinia. The funerary building also included a relief depicting the two spouses, which is now displayed in the museum complex of Centrale Montemartini, part of the Capitoline Museums.
