THE WALLS

The city was first enclosed by walls during the Roman era with a rectangular perimeter.
Later, in 1164, medieval walls were built by Emperor Federico Barbarossa. These walls formed a wider perimeter and included fourteen gates. Today, the 16th century walls with their three gates remain.
Trevisans and Venetians (who at that time dominated the mainland) built these walls, not only to protect the City, but also as a principal bulwark for the Venetians against the League of the Cambrai. To this end, the Venetian Republic sent Fra' Giocondo, who was well known for his hydraulic and military engineering skills, to Treviso in 1509, to start work on the renaissance walls. He was later replaced by the architect Alessandro Leopardi and eventually by two men-at-arm: Lorenzo di Ceri and Bartolomeo d'Alviano.
The medieval system of defence turrets was substituted by a defence which consisted of heavy walls, minimum gateways and the razing to the ground of all peripheral villages: this left the enemy in the open and easy targets for the Trevisans.
Inside the walls a complex maze of tunnels and bunkers were positioned to link the defenders but at the same time provide cover from the enemy lire. These are no longer visible but what does remain of the external walls suggests that the city was encircled by a very efficient defence system.
The remaining walls are generally those of the 14th century with bastions and straight sections. The walls were widened to the northwest to include the Quarter of Santi Quaranta and to the east (now Borgo Cavalli) to accommodate the displaced villages which had moved there when their own, outside the walls, had been levelled.
The best preserved section of this ancient wall is found between Porta SS. Quaranta and Porta San Tomaso.  This is also one of the town's most beautiful areas in which to take a stroll with a pretty selling. The wall ramparts form a long avenue flanked by trees of horse-chestnuts, an ideal place to jog, take the dog for a walk or for that romantic stroll.
The middle section of the wall to the north of the City, between the Portello and the bastion of St. Sofia (which was damaged in the 1800's during the building of the municipal slaughter house, which was later relocated), and the brickwork and pavement are still in good condition but continuity was lost when the moat was filled in. Little of the old walls remain where the railway station now stands: a castle and bastion were destroyed in order to create the wide open space in front of the railway station.

PORTA S. TOMASO (GATE OF ST. THOMAS)

Of the three 16th century gates, that of St. Tomaso is the most elegant and majestic. Its construction dates to 1518, as noted on ils external facade, and was erected in just ten months under the mayor Paolo Nani who wanted to call it Porta Nana. This he was not able to do, but he did at least, place a statue of St. Paolo, his patron saint, on the summit of the roof's single cupola.
The gate was named after St. Thomas Becket, to whom a church was dedicated just inside this gate. Its construction is attributed to Guglielmo Bergamasco. The facade is divided into three sections.
The central section has a large arched entrance, surmounted by a winged lion of Istrian stone, which was relocated from an unknown part of the old walls destroyed by the French in 1797.
The other two sections of the gate each have a small entrance, surmounted by the coat-etarms and emblems of armies.
The internal facade is of a more simple design and where the written welcome above the main entrance is inscribed in Venetian on the external face, here it is expressed in Latin: "Dominus custodiat introitum ed exitum tuum", as though to underline the fundamental cultural difference between the country Trevisans and their city counterparts.
Porta St. Tomaso has beenn and still is a major point of reference in the city: the junction of the important roads leading to the north, and on market days. an animated and lively meeting place.