The Porta Bertosa consists of three openings: two secondary entrances on either side of the main gate are surrounded by a majestic pediment. Today it is walled and overlooked by the Tower of San Giovanni, restored by Pope John XXIII, who resided there during the last years of his papal reign, and is the southwestern stronghold of the former Wall of Leonine. The age of its construction is quite controversial, and it probably dates back to the return of the popes from Avignon at the end of the fourteenth century when the popes returned to Rome from Avignon with a large retinue and resided definitively in the Vatican.