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WALLS OF TREVISO 

In 1500 Treviso was part of the Republic of Venice which had commercial ties with. After the victory of the Cambrai's league, in the battle of Agnadello, Treviso was the only venetian defense left on dry land; however its medieval walls were not strong enough to resist the new weapons introduced in the Renaissance. This is the reason why Fra Giocondo, a known military engineer, was called to reorganize Treviso's defensive system. He constructed 3 entrances: Porta Altinia (1514-15), Porta Santi Quaranta(1517) and Porta San Tomaso(1518).

PORTA ALTINIA

Porta Altinia was the first entrance to be built between 1514 and 1515. It faces on the East, where Altino's town is collocated, therefore it was called Altinia.

The entrance has a linear style that reminds of the medieval towers and it is the joining link between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It has an arch, the front is decorated with different low relief motives like the Saint Marco's Lion, the Statue of the Virgin Mary and the Announcer Angel, which was later removed. Every decoration was in Istria Stone.

Pomponio Amalteo, an italian artist, who painted some frescos on the inside which were not highly valued. On the North-West corner at the water level there are embrasures, and under the Polveriera there should have been the casamatta: the underground room, hidden into the bastion that was used to contain soldiers and cannons.

ICONOGRAPHY OF THE VENETIAN LION:

Some merchants brought from Alexandria to Venice  Saint Marco's body and his symbol, the winged lion, became the symbol of the Venetian Republic. The lion rapresents wisdom, justice and power; it could be rapresented in different positions: andante, in molèca, marciano, rampante and with berretto frigio (without sword and book).

The most illustated were:

• the andante lion seen entirely in profile, placed on 3 paws and with the right paw rested on a book.

• The molèca, where the lion is seen frontally and crouched, reminding the form of a crab. (molèca in venetian dialect means little crab).

• The marciano lion is turned to the left holding the book with the canonical inscription and the front paws placed on the land and the posterior ones on the water. It is sculpted on the Saint Sofia Bastion, in the Altinia's Tower and in Porta S. Quaranta.

The lion placed in Porta Altinia was removed in 1797 because of the decline of the Serenissima however, the one in the tower is still present.

Historians think that the lion in Saint Sofia is now in a different position; originally it faced the Sile and it was the first S. Marco lion that sailors would have seen as soon as they entered the city, however, right now it is on the opposite side.

Porta S. Quaranta's lion was put in place in 1909 as a substitute of a high relief, destroyed by the Napoleon's army in 1797.

The original lion of Porta S.Tomaso was demolished;as a matter of fact the one that can be seen nowadays is a replacement of a lion that was placed over the moat. The lion is placed side by side by some symbols: on the left the symbol of the Treviso's Council and on the right the doge Leonardo Loredan's one.