Portico

A portico is a porch that is leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls.

This idea first appeared in ancient Greece and has influenced many cultures, including most Western cultures.

Some famous examples of porticos are the East Portico of the United States Capitol, and the portico adorning the Pantheon in Rome.

Bologna, Italy, is very famous for its porticos. In total, there are over 45 kilometres of arcades, some 38 in the city center. The longest portico in the world, about 3.5 km, leads from the edge of the city up to Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca.

In the UK, the temple-front applied to The Vyne, Hampshire was the first portico applied to an English country house.

A pronaos is the inner area of the portico of a Greek or Roman Temple, situated between the portico's colonnade or walls and the entrance to the cella or shrine. Roman temples commonly had an open pronaos, usually with only columns and no walls, and the pronaos could be as long as the cella. The word pronaos is Greek for "before a temple". In Latin, a pronaos is also referred to as an anticum or prodomus.

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DE FERRANTI
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