The North Gate was not originally the main entrance to the town, which was instead the Ancient Gate, to the south-east. It was the northern end of the decumanus maximus of Circeii and connected with the road that skirted the Peretto hill and ran down towards La Mola.
The Gate was closed by the Templars in the Middle Ages to isolate the Rocca and its mighty Tower from the rest of the fortified village, and was reopened only at the beginning of the 16th century, when the new feudal lord Guglielmo Caetani took over.
The North Gate, or the Ponte (“the Bridge”) as the people of San Felice call it, is today the main entrance to the Historic Centre, opening onto the airy Piazza Vittorio Veneto, the heart of summer life in the old town. It originally had a drawbridge that was lowered outwards onto the edge of a moat, now occupied by modern buildings. The Gate had a double doorway: an outer one and an inner one, fitted with a portcullis, at the end of a passageway.
The passageway can be recognised in today’s brick corridor, on whose walls is a wonderful mosaic depicting an enchanting view of Torre Paola. Outside the Gate you can look out from the belvedere over the Gulf of Gaeta, from which, on particularly clear days, you can see as far as Vesuvius.