To the left of Piazza Dante is Via Port’ Alba, opened in 1625 to connect the city with the villages outside the walls. Port’ Alba is named after Don Antonio Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba and descendant of Don Pedro de Toledo, Spanish Viceroy. It was the architect Pompeo Lauria who received the commission from the Duke of Alba for the construction of the work and decided to open a passage in the tower that was called Port’ Alba and was decorated with three coats of arms: one of Philip III, one of the city of Naples and one of the Viceroy. In 1656 the painter Mattia Preti decorated the door with some frescoes, with depictions of the Virgin with St. Gennaro and St. Gaetano and the scene of the plague victims, while the statue of St. Gaetano, coming from the demolished Porta dello Spirito Santo, was placed in 1781.
