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The name of the gate is not mentioned in the award of the Sienese consuls Iacopo “Arungerius” and Altovito who on 8 November 1198 pronounced themselves in the controversy between Orvieto and Acquapendente on the demolition of the walls, after the war of 1197. Only in the 16th century, Paolo Biondi , describing the six gates of the city, he remembers that the one you enter when you come towards Siena is called Ripa.
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DOOR OF THE RIPA
HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION
The gate is not mentioned in the award of the Sienese consuls Iacopo “Arungerius” and Altovito who on 8 November 1198 pronounced themselves in the dispute between Orvieto and Acquapendente on the demolition of the walls, after the war of 1197, during which this city had been occupied with the strength from Viterbo and Orvieto. However, it must be pointed out that the names of the five doors do not correspond to those of the six that are known since the 16th century, thus it being possible that Porta della Ripa was then known by another name.
This entrance to the city assumed greater importance when, upon the destruction of the castle, the urban section of the Via Francigena fell into disuse and was replaced by a new axis of flow. The new road, entering from Porta della Ripa and exiting from Porta Romana, joined the city from north to south taking on a curvilinear course near the hill, on which the fortress once stood.
The continuous struggles between Acquapendente and Orvieto led to the destruction and rebuilding of the walls in the 13th century: the stretch visible today along the Cassia and including Porta della Ripa can be dated to that period.
In the XVI century, Biondi, describing the six gates of the city, recalls that the one where one enters coming towards Siena, is called Ripa.
We have no information to prove that the further modifications made around the middle of the 17th century have the structure of the door. The planned interventions, in fact, mainly concerned, due to the short time and the small expenditure, the construction of fortifications on the ground with fagots and excavations.
