Yesterday, I spoke about the Porta Borsari in Verona and mentioned that there was one other gate which survived from the Roman times. This is the Porta Leoni. Unfortunately we do not know how the gate was referred to in Roman times. We call it Porta Leoni because of a sarcophagus that was found with lion decorations on it.
This gate was originally built in the late Republican times which was about 50-40BCE. The gate was built with bricks and had corner polygonal towers. One of the really cool things is that you can see the base of the circular tower excavated and on display for viewing just nearby in the street.
The remains of the facades that we see today are from a slightly later time – probably the Julio Claudian era from about 50-70CE. The marble for this gate and the Porta Borsari was quarried from a place called Valpolicella from Northern Italy.
I found an interesting video of the reconstruction of Porta Leoni
Nice!