Porta Salaria owes its name to the road of the same name that ran from the Campo Boario area out to Sabina, north of Rome. From pre-Roman times, it was used for transporting salt to the Apennine regions. The gate no longer exists today: heavily damaged during the bombardment of 20 September 1870, it was razed to the ground and replaced by a new gate designed by Virginio Vespignani in 1873. It was enlarged in 1912 but finally demolished in 1921 to improve traffic flow.
The appearance of the ancient gate can only be reconstructed on the basis of historic photos and survey drawings, while the planimetry can be ascertained from pieces of pink granite inserted in the road surface of Piazza Fiume. The gate is cited in various ancient sources as Porta Salaria, but also San Silvestro, after the pope of the same name buried in the Catacomb of Priscilla at the three-mile mark of the road. It may also have been called Porta Belisaria, though some scholars attribute this name to the nearby Porta Pinciana.
The original gate from the Aurelian age had just one archway, flanked by two semicircular towers. When it was destroyed in 1870, three tombs came to light in the towers, the presence of which had determined the different sizes of the towers. In the time of Honorius, an extra storey was added to these, and the lower part was faced with blocks of travertine. The portcullis chamber was also probably added around the same time, together with the portcullis for the central archway. A secondary, inner gate was built too, like those of Porta Ostiense and Porta Tiburtina.
Among the historic vicissitudes that affected Porta Salaria, it is worth mentioning the events relating to the Sack of Rome by Alaric in 410. According to Sozomen, Alaric managed to get into the city with a ruse, a betrayal spoken of more fully by Procopius of Caesarea, who gave two distinct versions of what happened. In one, Proba, a lady from a family of senatorial rank, was moved by compassion for the plight of her fellow citizens, sorely tried by the long siege. Taking advantage of darkness, she ordered her servants to open the gates to the enemy. According to another version, Alaric came up with a plan to take the city with a subterfuge: the Visigoth king pretended to surrender and despatched ambassadors to the Roman senate together with three hundred fake slaves as a gift. But having been kept inside the city, on the night of 24 August 410 they killed the garrison guards and opened the gate to the troops of Alaric, who then took the city.
2. Porta Salaria, external elevation, watercolour on card, 1871.
3. Porta Salaria during demolition in 1871.
4. R. MOSCIONI, Porta Salaria, first quarter of the 20th century.
5. Porta Salaria and the walls during restoration work, interior elevation, first half of the 20th century.