Garibaldi Gate in Leonforte
Garibaldi Gate in Leonforte is the only one of the four gateways to the city that remains today.
It was commissioned by the Prince to protect his subjects from reprisals and to defend against the plague that broke out in Sicily. Porta Garibaldi was part of a defense system that included a wall and four access gates: Porta Crocifisso to the east, Porta S. Rocco to the west, Porta S. Filippo or "Pipituna" to the north, so called due to the presence of two high pillars, and Porta Palermo to the south, on the road from Enna to Leonforte. Of these doors, the first three were eliminated between 1875 and 1877. The gate took on its current name after Garibaldi's passage on August 15, 1862.
The door has a classical style, consists of a round arch and is flanked by the entrance door of the Botanical Garden, with squared ashlars and classical entablature. It ends at the top with two dovetail battlements, one of which has been lost. The door overlooked the "Piano S. Cristoforo" or "Piazza Sottana" bounded by the church of the Madonna del Carmelo and the Granfonte.
