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Abstract: The gates are a perfect case study for deepening the transformation of the city between the Middle and the Early-Modern age. First the essay analyses the several functional spaces that define a gates as little cities at the edge of the city: the flanking towers, the yard, the room for the manoeuvre etc. Secondly the author deepens its decorative and symbolic meanings. If in the Etruscan and Roman age the gates are usually characterized only for the masonry, from the XV century they became symbolic vehicles, representative of the Civitas or his Lord, without sacrificing the functional role of transit and filter for men, goods and animals: from the Porta San Pietro in Perugia and the Porta Capuana in Naples to the several examples during the XVI century, especially in Rome and Florence. Finally a focus is devoted to the Serlio treaty in which, for the first time, the city gates earn an autonomous status in a catalogue of building components.

Keywords: City gate system; History of modern Architecture; History of Roman Urbanism; City walls; Serlio treaty.