On the night between 3 and 4 April 1853, “the corner in the curtain wall of the castle walls between the 14th and 15th towers, counting from the Porta San Giovanni towards the Porta Maggiore and exactly beneath the garden of the Cistercian fathers in Santa Croce in Gerusalemme” collapsed, blocking a section of the public street. Despite the fact that Pope Pius IX’s motu proprio [writ] of 1847 had given the newly founded Municipality of Rome jurisdiction over the maintenance of the city walls, the restoration of the fallen wall was managed by the pope, who employed the architect Virginio Vespignani. What was left of the curtain wall was demolished for a total length of 22 m and a buttress was rebuilt in place of the fallen tower, which also served as a support for the Cistercian garden, matching the height of the garden’s embankment.
