6. The Porta Nuova

This was the third gateway into the town. Also known as the Porta di Locarno it opened onto the present day Piazza Teatro. It was just a simple tower with a drawbridge but no outwork to protect it. In the square a strip of cobblestones in a different colour still mark where the town wall stood until it was demolished in the first half of the 1800s. The stones were used to fill in the ancient moat at the foot of the wall and in the construction of the Teatro Sociale (1847), which gives its name to the square. The wall to the left of the tower still stands behind the houses, where it climbs to join the perimeter wall of Castelgrande; a section that is in need of restoration.

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