Porta San Paolo
Porta San Paolo, meaning Saint Paul Gate, is one of Rome’s southern gates in the 3rd‑century Aurelian Walls. It sits in the Ostiense district near the Pyramid of Cestius and the Protestant Cemetery. It was originally called Porta Ostiensis, because it opened onto Via Ostiense, the road to Ostia. The road split at the gate, with one branch toward Rome’s Emporium market.
The gate has two cylindrical towers and two entrances. A second gate with a single opening was added in front by the Byzantine general Belisarius in the 530s–540s. The structure dates to the time of Maxentius (4th century), and the towers were raised by Honorius.
It was renamed Porta San Paolo because it was the exit toward the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.
In 549, Totila’s Ostrogoths entered Rome through this gate after an Isaurian garrison betrayed the city. On 10 September 1943, after Italy’s armistice with the Allies, Italian forces tried to block a German takeover here, suffering about 570 casualties.
Today the gatehouse houses the Via Ostiense Museum.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 07:00 (CET).