Porta della Marina – the ancient Porta de Sandala, first documented in 1179 – is one of the medieval entrances to the city from the Lungomare dei Cavalieri side. Restored in 2023, it consists of a cross-vaulted portico, with two fragments of Roman entablature visible from the outside, at street level.
On the left side, the ceramic panel made by Renato Rossi in 1937 depicts the overseas colonies and sea trade that made Amalfi an economic and military power, dominating international traffic between East and West between the 10th and 12th centuries.
Amalfi’s commercial acumen equalled their political shrewdness. In a very turbulent historical period such as the Middle Ages, Amalfi managed to make agreements with different peoples, including the feared Saracens.
The cartouche at the top right of the panel features lines from Gabriele D’Annunzio’s ‘Canzone del Sacramento’ (1911). And the bottom features Latin verses by the poet Tortelli, referring to the famous Battle of Ostia in 849 won by the fleets of Amalfi, Naples, Sorrento and Gaeta, which together defeated the Saracen ships in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
