Porta Vittoria (formerly Porta Tosa) was a city gate in the Spanish walls of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. While the walls and the gate have been demolished, the name "Porta Vittoria" has remained to refer to the district (" quartiere") where the gate used to be. This district is part of the Zone 4 administrative division of Milan.

History

Porta Tosa was the eastern gate of the Spanish walls of Milan, dating back to the 16th century. During the Five Days of Milan, Porta Tosa was the first to be conquered by the Milanese rebels, on 22 March 1848 (an event known as "The Battle of Porta Tosa"). In 1861, when the

Italian unification The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

was completed, the gate was renamed "Porta Vittoria" (Victory Gate) after that victorious episode. What remained of the Spanish walls and gates was demolished in the 19th century. In 1881,

Giuseppe Grandi 250px, Obelisk monument to ''Five Days of Milan'' in memory of the popular uprising in 1848 against Austrian rule. Giuseppe Grandi (1843–1894) was an Italian sculptor. Life Grandi was born and died in Valganna. Taught by Vela at the Accademia ...

designed an

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...

to be placed in the square where the gate used to be; it was inaugurated on 18 March 1895. Porta vittoria 1886.jpg, The Porta Vittoria bridge in the 19th century Milano, Castello sforzesco - Donna impudica sec. XII - da Porta Tosa - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto 6-gen-2007 - 01.jpg, 13th century bas-relief from Porta Tosa. It has been suggested that the woman showing off her genitalia might be a provocative representation of Frederick I Barbarossa's wife.

The district

The centre of the Porta Vittoria district is the square where Grandi's obelisk is located; this square is now called Piazza Cinque Giornate ("Five Days Square"). Most streets, avenues, and square in the district are named after heroes and prominent events of the Milanese Risorgimento and the Five Days. A large avenue crossing Piazza Cinque Giornate in east-west direction is called Corso di Porta Vittoria to the west and Corso 22 Marzo to the west. In the north-south direction, the Piazza is crossed by one of the main

ring road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...

s of Milan, the Circonvallazione Interna ("inner ringroad", as opposed to the Circonvallazione Esterna, the "outer ringroad" which embraces a much wider area). In the Porta Vittoria district, the Circonvallazione Interna is composed of streets Viale Montenero and Viale Regina Margherita. The area is mostly a shopping district, with Piazza Cinque Giornate, as well as the two Corso's, being lined with large stores and shops. To the east, it borders on

Città Studi Città Studi (literally, "studies city") is a district ("quartiere") of Milan, Italy, located within the Zone 3 administrative division. Its name comes from the fact that the Politecnico technical university, as well as most technical and scie ...

("city of the studies"), where major universities of Milan have their headquarters.

External links

{{coord, 45, 27, 44, N, 9, 12, 26, E, region:IT_source:kolossus-itwiki, display=title Districts of Milan