Via XX Settembre, to conclude with an imposing frontal prospect a long straight front beginning at the Quirinal. For a more scenic effect, the gate was set slightly behind the line of the walls, which was connected with two lateral oblique sections of wall, overhung by the wall-ends of the gate, and had only one arch (as it appears on the medal) with the reverse facade facing the city, whereas on the outside was only a simple fornix. A second arch was opened around 1575 to facilitate the transit of traffic, significantly increased by the closure of the nearby porta Nomentana, as stated on the inscription over the central arch: The prints and engravings up to 1577 depict a tower on the outside of a gate – it is doubtful whether this was lost from the design due to a collapse or due to a lessening desire for architectural motifs. The external facade was completed in 1869 to neoclassical plans by Virginio Vespignani, who seems to have been inspired by an engraving of 1568 to follow Michelangelo's original plans quite closely. Beginning in 1853 with a restoration due to damage from a lightning strike in 1851, the works also included the addition of new buildings and a courtyard. The new facade, in keeping with the city walls, houses two statues each in their own niche (in this case, of saints Agnes and Alexander, according to the will of Pius IX), flanked by four columns. The Pope wanted a memorial to his escape from danger during the collapse of the audience chamber at the Sant'Agnese convent (near the gate) during his visit there on April 12, 1855. An inscription above the arch on the external side recorded this escape: It was through an artillery-opened breach in the wall a dozen metres to the west of the gate – known as the "Porta Pia breach" – that on September 20, 1870 Bersaglieri soldiers entered Rome and completed the unification of Italy. A marble and bronze Monument to the Porta Pia Breach is found at the spot where Italian artillery demolished the walls. Opposite the gate, on the external side, at the centre of the piazzale di Porta Pia, is the Monumento al Bersagliere, commissioned by Mussolini and erected in 1932 by Publio Morbiducci. The buildings between the two arches of the gate, once housing the customs office, are now the seat of