Luogo - Monument
Porta Nuova
Where
Via Vittorio Emanuele, Palermo
Porta Nuova, adjacent Norman Palace, was for centuries the most important access to Palermo via earth. Commissioned in 1583 by the Viceroy Marcantonio Colonna to commemorate the victory of Charles V on the Turkish armed, suffered the total destruction in 1667, when it exploded a deposit of gunpowder. In 1669 the architect Gaspare Guercio rebuilt it entirely and decided to put on top of the building a pyramidal roof covered with polychrome majolica tiles with the image of an eagle with spread wings. The prospect facing the city follows the Classic schemes of the ancient triumphal arches, while the exterior has an original architecture, dominated by the presence of four spectacular telamons depicting the Moors defeated by Charles V.
