Porta San Paolo and the Pyramid of Cestius are located in one of the best-preserved areas of the Aurelian Walls. The current name was given to this gate in the Middle Ages, due to its proximity to the Basilica of Saint Paul, reachable by a devotional path along the Via Ostiense, which started its journey towards the sea right from here.
Today Porta San Paolo houses the Museum of the Via Ostiense at Porta San Paolo, which preserves materials from the territory between Rome and Ostia. Three arcosolia—a type of burial found in catacombs—paintings from a 3rd-century AD tomb discovered near the Basilica of Saint Paul, numerous casts of inscriptions and funerary steles are noteworthy. Additionally, two important models are exhibited, representing ancient Ostia and the complex of the imperial ports of Claudius and Trajan. In the eastern tower, there are remains of frescoes dating between the late 13th and early 14th centuries, decorations of a chapel of the Byzantine community.
