Porta Pia
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Porta Pia is a gate in the Aurelian Walls of Rome. Italy. One of Pope Pius IV's civic improvements to the city, it is named after him. Situated at the end of a new street, the Via Pia, it was designed by Michelangelo in substituion of the Porta Nomentana situated several hundred meters southwards.
Construction began in 1561 and ended in 1565, after the artist's death. A 1561 bronze commemorative medal by Gianfederico Bonzagna shows an early plan by Michelangelo, very different from his final design.[1]. The façade on the outside of the city was completed in 1869 under the Neo-Classicist design by Virginio Vespignani.
It was through an artillery-opened breach in the wall near here that on September 20, 1870 Bersaglieri soldiers entered Rome and completed the unification of Italy. A monument in the square facing the gate and another in the breach area celebrate the event. The buildings between the two entrances of the gate, once housing the customs, are now the seat of the Historical Museum of the Bersaglieri, with the monumental tomb of Enrico Toti.
Here, on September 11, 1926, the antifascist activist Gino Lucetti threw a bomb against the car transporting Benito Mussolini, but without effect.
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