points of interest in Rome
Alchemical Door
Porta Alchemica (English: alchemical door) , or Alchemy Gate or Magic Portal, is an ancient monument built between 1678 and 1680 by Massimiliano Palombara marquis of Pietraforte (1614-1680) in his residence, Palombara villa, located in the east of Rome on the Esquilino hill in a position almost corresponding to Piazza Vittorio, where today was placed. Porta Alchemica is the only survivor of the five gates of the Palombara villa, there was an lost door on the opposite side enabling to give it a date of 1680, there were also four other inscriptions lost on the walls of the mansion inside the villa.