The gate, built after the city was conquered by the Roman general Sulla in 89 BC, has no defensive structures because it was built at a time when the walls lost their function. It has three fornix, of which those at the sides are smaller and the central vault has partially collapsed. It owes its name to the fact that the road which connected Pompeii with Herculaneum emerged from here.

In the inside the adjacent walls belong to an earlier time than the Samnite era (2nd century BC), the great staircase with steps made of tuff had to provide easy access to the walkway. A section of the walls can be seen outside the door, on the left, built with large blocks of tuff and arranged in a regular layout with a height of 7m.

The marks left on the vestment by stone bullets thrown during the siege of Sulla, which concentrated particularly in this area of Pompeii, can still be noted.

Date of excavation: from the 18th century.