The original external structure of the Porta
del Popolo dating back to 1561, was completed
by Bernini with the elegant coping decorated with Chigi heraldic motifs (partly eliminated) carried out at the same time as the restorations to the nearby Augustinian church. The pair of statues of the saints Peter and Paul, originally destined to go to Ostia Basilica, remained in the inter-columns of the external facade until 1980 (they are now in the Roma Museum).
A tablet in the attic commemorates the happy entrance on the 23rd December, 1655, of the ex-queen Christina of Sweden. The large square, the result of later works by Valadier, penetrates into the town's structure creating, to the sides of the twin churches of Santa Maria of Montesanto and Santa Maria dei Miracoli, the so-called "trident" formed by Via del Babbuino, Via del Corso and Via diRipetta.