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THE PORTA BORGHERIGLIA
HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION
The Porta Borgheriglia is the oldest doorway of the city. It was called, until the seventeenth century, Porta Romana, recognized for the travelers that came from the Urbe (Rome), the official entrance to the city. The term borgheriglia comes from the Hispanicization of the old bórgora (village) in bórgorilla (small village), and most likely, the name changed during the time of the visit by the Papal Legate, Cardinal Egidio Albornoz and his Spanish Court to the fortress of Montefiascone. In 1702, after having reconstructed the adjacent church of San Bartolomeo, Cardinal Barbarigo felt the need to restructure the doorway, achieving this through some contributions from the community. The reconstruction project of the doorway is the work of Giovan Battista Origoni, the architect that designed for the Barbarigo all the design plans of the seminary. The typology of the decorative elements, in particular the volutes displed at the top, are evident references to the baroque architecture of the end of the seventeenth century along with explicit Renaissance reference of the ashlar masonry on the side jambs, and of the shelf break above the arch.
Porta di Borgheriglia
Translation by Hannah Sbarbaro, Texas A&M University, enrolled in the USAC Viterbo program at Università degli Studi della Tuscia.
ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
G. Breccola – M. Mari, Montefiascone, Grotte di Castro 1979.
G. Breccola, Montefiascone. Guida alla scoperta, Montefiascone 2006.
