Porta Camollìa is one of the northern portals in the medieval walls of

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

. It is located on via Camollia and opens inside the city into the Contrada of Istrice. Consisting of three arches; the inner arch is surmounted by a circular marble bas-relief with the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

''IHS''

Christogram A Christogram () is a monogram or combination of letters that forms an abbreviation for the name of Jesus Christ, traditionally used as a Christian symbolism, religious symbol within the Christian Church. One of the oldest Christograms is the C ...

inside a sun symbol (

San Bernardino San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...

Christogram). The outer facade has the Medici heraldic shield with a stone arch added in 1604 by

Alessandro Casolani Alessandro Casolani (1552–1606), also called Alessandro della Torre, was an Italian painter of the late-Renaissance period, active mainly in Siena. Casolani was born at Siena in 1552, and was the pupil of Ventura Salimbeni and of Cristoforo ...

and decorated by Domenico Cafaggi. The inscription was placed to record the entry of

Ferdinand I de' Medici Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (30 July 1549 – 17 February 1609) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1587 to 1609, having succeeded his older brother Francesco I, who presumably died from malaria. Early life Ferdinando was the ...

into Siena, and states ''Cor magis tibi sena pandit'' (Siena shows a heart that is bigger than this gate). The two central figures hold the Medici coat of arms.Siena Guida Virtuale
entry.

History

The name comes from the legend regarding the founding of Siena, that a soldier by the name of Camulio had been sent to Siena by the founder of Rome,

Romulus Romulus (, ) was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of th ...

, to capture his nephews Senio and Ascanio. However, Camulio instead stayed and built a town around the area of the portal. Over the centuries, this gate, which lead towards Florence was often the most defended. The original gate, built during the 13th century was razed during the 1555 siege of Siena. About forty meters outside of the gate, at the start of via Vittorio Emanuele II is the small renaissance-style Oratorio del Santo Sepolcro. A few hundred meters north along the same street rises the ''Antiporto di Camollia'', an additional fortification built to defend this access to the

Via Francigena The Via Francigena (), also known as Francisca or Romea, is an ancient road and Christian pilgrimage, pilgrimage route running from the City status in the United Kingdom#Cathedral towns, cathedral city of Canterbury in England, through France and ...

Bibliography

Umbria, Marche Guida d'Italia''
(Guida rossa), Touring Club Italiano, Milano 2002.

References

{{Coord, 43.32766, N, 11.325385, E, type:landmark, display=title Camollia Buildings and structures completed in 1604 1604 establishments in Italy