According to the most reliable reconstruction, up until the mid-fourteenth century, the urban layout of Atina was organized around three hubs: Santo Stefano (the hill near the Convent of San Francesco, or “Torretta”), Colle della Torre (the current historic center), and Santa Maria (now the cemetery), with the first two being fortified.
On the morning of 9 September 1349, Atina was razed to the ground by a devastating earthquake and was rebuilt on the site where the historic center now stands. The feudal lord at the time was Rostaino Cantelmo, who had a feudal palace built, protected by twenty towers and a moat. It was accessible through three gates: Santa Maria, Fontana, and San Rocco. Today, as in the past, this last gate is the main entrance to the old town.
The original structure had a pointed arch. Like Porta Santa Maria and the entrance to Palazzo Cantelmo, the Porta dell’Assunta was built in the French aesthetic style introduced by the Cantelmo family. In 1760, it was demolished and rebuilt with a round arch, wider than before. In 1775, the Bolognese artist Giovan Battista Maini (who was working at the Abbey of Monte Cassino) embellished it by sculpting a blessing Christ holding the world at its top. Following the bombings of September 1943, the gate was seriously damaged. It was rebuilt in 1948, 50 centimeters wider, to allow easier access for the vehicles involved in the reconstruction of the historic center.
Just inside the gate stood the church of San Carlo. According to tradition, it was built between 626 and 647 by Bishop Gaudentius and dedicated to Saint Stephen. In a 1208 privilege issued by Pope Innocent III, it is mentioned as the Church of the Holy Cross of the City. In 1274, it was restored through the efforts of Cicchillo, a native of Atina. In the early seventeenth century, under the provostship of Giovanni Bernardino Mancino, it was renovated by Nicola Simonelli, who also founded the Confraternity of San Carlo there.
Outside the gate, one can see a noteworthy Roman inscription (CIL 5116), which reads:
“Gnaeus Valerius Philodamus, freedman of Gnaeus, Gnaeus Valerius Soranus, son of Gnaeus. The monument measures on the front 16 feet, in depth feet…”
In 1887, Cesare Pascarella described it as “completely refurbished and painted with white and red stripes; but inside, it retains its medieval structure intact. Everywhere, in the streets and alleys, on houses blackened by centuries or made white by recent plastering, one can spot remnants of porticoes, twin windows, columns, capitals, and fragments of Romanesque carvings.”
