History A gate that roughly corresponds to modern Porta Sempione was already part of
Roman walls of Milan. It was called
Porta Giovia ("Jupiter's Gate") and was located at the end of modern Via San Giovanni sul Muro. At the time, the gate was meant to control an important road leading to what is now
Castelseprio. Very little remains of the original
Roman structure; some Roman
tombstones that used to be placed by the outer side of the walls have been employed in the construction of later buildings such as the
Basilica of Saint Simplician (located in Corso Garibaldi). In the Middle Ages, part of the Roman walls in the Porta Sempione area was adapted as part of
the new walls. The gate itself was moved north, in a place that is now occupied by the
Sforza Castle. The Castle itself was completed in the 15th Century, under Duke
Filippo Maria Visconti, and the gate itself became part of the Castle. In 1807, under the
Napoleonic rule, the Arch of Peace was built by architect
Luigi Cagnola. This new gate marked the place where the new Strada del Sempione entered Milan. This road, which is still in use today, connects Milan to
Paris through the
Simplon Pass crossing the
Alps. At the time, the gate was still called
Porta Giovia. When the Napoleonic
Kingdom of Italy fell and Milan was conquered by the
Austrian Empire, the gate was not yet completed, and the construction was abandoned for a while. The construction of the Arch was resumed, again by Cagnola, in 1826, for Emperor
Francis II, who dedicated the monument to the 1815
Congress of Vienna. When Cagnola died in 1833, his project was taken over by
Francesco Londonio and Francesco Peverelli, who brought it to completion in 1838. The gate was the scene of several prominent events in the Milanese history of the 19th century. On 22 March 1848, the
Austrian army led by marshal
Josef Radetzky escaped from Milan through Porta Giovia after being defeated in the
Five Days of Milan rebellion. On 8 June 1859, four days after the
Battle of Magenta,
Napoleon III and
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy triumphally entered Milan through the gate. The Italian quote written above the arch, translated by Google Translate to English reads, "To the hopes of the Italian kingdom auspice Napoleon 1 the Milanese dedicated the year MDCCCVII and freed from servitude they happily returned the year MDCCCLIX.".
Site and decoration The gate is located at the center of a wide round square known as
Piazza Sempione ("Simplon Square"). It is adjacent to
Simplon Park, the main city park of Milan, which was designed with the explicit intent of providing panoramic views encompassing both the Arch and the nearby
Sforza Castle. The gate is a
neoclassical triumphal arch, 25 m high and 24 m wide, decorated with a number of
bas-reliefs,
statues, and
corinthian columns. Bas-reliefs and statues are made of a variety of materials, including
marble,
bronze,
wood, and
stucco. Many of such decorations, especially bas-reliefs, are dedicated to major events in the history of Italy and Europe, such as the
Battle of Leipzig, the foundation of the
Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, the
Congress of Vienna. Other decorations have classical mythology subjects such as
Mars,
Ceres,
Minerva,
Apollo, and
Victoria-
Nike. There are also a group of statues that are
allegories of major rivers in North Italy such as the
Po, the
Adige and the
Ticino. Notable artists that have collaborated to the decoration of the gate include
Pompeo Marchesi,
Luigi Acquisti,
Grazioso Rusca, Luigi Buzzi Leone,
Giovanni Battista Comolli,
Luigi Marchesi, Nicola Pirovano, Francesco Peverelli, Benedetto Cacciatori, Giovanni Antonio Labus, Claudio Monti,
Gaetano Monti,
Camillo Pacetti, Antonio Pasquali, Giovambattista Perabò,
Angelo Pizzi,
Grazioso Rusca, Girolamo Rusca, and
Francesco Somaini. At the sides of the Arch of Peace there are two minor rectangular buildings that used to be the customs office. ==Bas-reliefs of the Arch==