Porta Galliera

The most ornate of Bologna's surviving gates, this was first built in the third ring of medieval walls in 1200 on the road to Ferrara. In 1330, the envoy of Pope John XXII in Avignon, Cardinal Bertrand du Pouget built a fortress, the Rocca di Galliera, to bully the comune. It didn't work; the fort and gate were destroyed by the people, and its ruins now lie underneath the Parco della Montagnola.

The current gate, designed by Bartolomeo Provaglia, was built 1661 and still bears its papal coat of arms. It was spared when the walls around it were demolished, and restored in 2009.