Bed and Breakfast Porta Romana

This is a medieval Roman porta, not one from the classical period.

It's a nice old doorway, though to me it feels a little out of place among the surrounding buildings.

You can get a sense of the village around 1450 from this well-restored gate. It is almost unique in Omegna, having somehow survived earlier waves of thoughtless demolition. The Borromeo family defended the village with a proper circuit of walls by then, whereas before that the gate opened onto a simple palisade. From here, people headed toward Valstrona. Today it sits awkwardly against a house, out of its original setting.

It's a shame that several dozen metres of wall, still standing after World War II, were torn down for the apartment blocks on Via Tito Speri. This gate is the only trace left of the walls around Omegna. It was called "la Valle," probably because it opened onto the road to the Strona Valley, and you can see the remains of the Ponte Antico just ahead. It likely dates from the 11th or 12th century.