Description

Porta Pinciana lies at the end of Via Veneto and, to tell the truth, not much is known about it. A few incisions suggest that it was originally a simple postern in the Aurelian walls. Currently it has five fornices but originally had only one (the one lined with marble and topped by two towers); the others were opened more recently to speed the traffic. During the Middle Ages it was also known as Porta Belisaria in commemoration of Justinian's general who defended Rome against the Goths and then had the city rebuilt. A Latin graffito on the outer façade (no longer visible) stated "date obulum Belisario" ("Give alms to Belisarius"), which was popularly believed to prove the story that, when old and blind, Belisarius used to beg below the gateway that had made him so famous.