Porta Nuova, located adjacent to the Palazzo dei Normanni, has been the most important land access to Palermo for centuries. From it, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, or Cassaro, the city's main artery, and, on the outside, the road to Monreale, depart.

Porta Nuova, originally commissioned in 1583 by Viceroy Marcantonio Colonna to commemorate the victory of Charles V over the Turkish armies, was completely destroyed in 1667 when a gunpowder depot exploded. In 1669, architect Gaspare Guercio rebuilt it entirely and planned to crown the building with a pyramidal roof covered with polychrome majolica tiles featuring the image of an eagle with spread wings.

The façade facing the city follows the classical schemes of ancient triumphal arches, while the external one presents an original and bizarre architecture dominated by the spectacular presence of four telamons, representing the Moors defeated by Charles V.