Built into the 16th-century circuit of Vatican Walls, Porta Fabbrica, which is now walled-up and at a lower height with respect to the current street level, has a simple brick arch with the papal coat of arms of Clement XI (1700–1721) at the top. Like the whole of the 16th-century defensive system, there used to be a moat outside the gate, which no longer exists but is documented by Giovan Battista Cipriani’s etching of 1817.
The name of the gate derives from the fact that it was the preferred route for getting to the surrounding brickworks towards the Aurelia Antica, where materials were sourced for the Fabric of Saint Peter’s. For this reason, it was also known as Porta Fornacum.
Beneath the papal coat of arms, it is still possible to make out the emblem of the Fabric of Saint Peter’s, consisting of the keys and papal tiara flanked by the letters F. A. (Fabrica Apostolica).
The gate was walled up and reopened several times, until the reconstruction ordered by Pope Clement XI, when, according to the erudite scholar Giuseppe Bianchini, it was rebuilt from the foundations up (G. Bianchini, G. Vasi, Delle magnificenze di Roma antica e moderna libro primo che contiene le porte e mura di Roma, Rome 1847).
2. Porta Fabrica