"The Wall of Urbano VIII (Mura di Urbano VIII)" submitted by RomeTour Editorial Team and last updated on Sunday 26th June 2011
The walls going down from the Janiculum hill are relatively recent because were built under Urban VIII which comprehended much bigger area than that one of Imperial walls. The Wall of Urbano VIII and the Vanvitelli fountain When, in 1630, port duty was reinstated, it became necessary to separate the port itself from the city. Urbano VIII therefore had a wall built which still exists today and which also went to complete the city's defensive system which, towards the sea, was in fact lacking.
These walls of Urban were built in 1643-1644 to protect the city from the so called "War of Castro" against the duke Farnese and European powers allied to him. The walls of Aurelius, defending this part of the city before, were supplanted. The new walls were much better adapted to the contemporary criteria of defense.
The documents of that epoch tell about rapid and effective organization and realization of the project which included also inclusion of two gates: Porta S.Pancrazio and Porta Portese. The other gate Porta Portuense which served the old imperial walls and stood some hundred meters away from Porta Portese was destroyed.
The new walls could successfully protect the whole Trastevere district and Vatican including the zone of Borghi.
UNESCO World Heritage site of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See was founded, according to legend, by Romulus and Remus in 753 BC, Rome was first the centre of the Roman Republic, then of the Roman Empire, and it became the capital of the Christian world in the 4th century.
Rome’s historical centre, along with the Vatican, the Basílica de San Paolo outside the walls and, since 1990, the entire area within the walls of Urbano VIII, includes some of the major monuments of antiquity such as the Forums, the Mausoleum of Augustus, the Mausoleum of Hadrian, the Pantheon, Trajan’s Column and the Column of Marcus Aurelius, as well as the religious and public buildings of papal Rome have now been declared a world heritage site by UNESCO.
Address:
The Wall of Urbano VIII (Mura di Urbano VIII)
Via Urbano VIII, Città del Vaticano (Vatican City)
00153 - 00165 , Rome, Lazio, Italy
Zone: Rione Trastevere (Gianicolo) (Roma centro)
The Wall of Urbano VIII (Mura di Urbano VIII) is Shown By "Map J Zone" As "36"
Nearest Train: San Pietro