Porta delle Fonti - San Gimignano - Tuscany

Its name derives from the fact that leaving the town and walking down a short but rather steep slope leads to the town's medieval public fountains: ten arches, six of which are smaller Romanesque and four larger Gothic.

During a 1930 restoration, a chapel that had stood against the inside of the gate in 1501 and which can still be seen in some old photos was demolished. On that occasion, the fresco of the Madonna and Child with Saints Michael and John the Baptist was released from the circle of Lippo Memmi and placed in Piazza del Duomo, under the loggia of the Palazzo Comunale. Due to the rapid deterioration of the paint layer, it was restored in 2010 and is currently in the Municipal Art Gallery, in a temporary location.

Today the door has a Sienese-style lowered round arch on the outside, made of bricks. The inner arch, on the other hand, is just a round arch. In addition, both inside and outside we see a crown consisting of a series of corbels with hanging arches.

Willem Vandenameele