Il cancello resta chiuso di notte.

Resta comes from restare, which means to remain or to stay.

So Il cancello resta chiuso di notte suggests that the gate stays/remains closed at night. It emphasizes the continuing state.

If you said Il cancello è chiuso di notte, that would also be correct, but it is a bit more neutral: it simply says the gate is closed at night.

So:

• è chiuso = is closed
• resta chiuso = remains/stays closed

Because chiuso agrees with il cancello.

Il cancello is:

• masculine
• singular

So the adjective/past participle must also be masculine singular:

• chiuso

Compare:

• La porta resta chiusa
• I cancelli restano chiusi
• Le porte restano chiuse

It is originally the past participle of chiudere = to close, but in this sentence it functions like an adjective describing the state of the gate.

So here chiuso means closed as a condition or state.

That is very common in Italian:

• La finestra è aperta
• La porta resta chiusa
• Il negozio è chiuso

In sentences like these, the past participle behaves much like an adjective.

Not really, or at least not in the most straightforward sense.

This sentence is mainly describing a state:

• the gate remains closed

A clearer passive idea would be something like:

• Il cancello viene chiuso di notte = the gate is closed at night
• Il cancello è chiuso di notte can sometimes also be understood passively, but often it just describes the resulting state

So resta chiuso focuses more on the condition of the gate than on the action of someone closing it.

Di notte means at night or during the night, depending on context.

It is a fixed expression, so Italian normally does not use an article here.

This is similar to other time expressions:

• di giorno = during the day / by day
• di sera = in the evening
• di notte = at night

You may also hear:

• la notte = at night, nights, in the nighttime in a more general or stylistic sense
• durante la notte = during the night

But in this sentence, di notte is the most natural choice.

Because time expressions often come after the main statement in Italian.

So the order:

• Il cancello resta chiuso di notte

is very natural.

You could also move it for emphasis:

• Di notte, il cancello resta chiuso

That version puts more attention on at night. Both are correct.

Yes. Rimane from rimanere is very close in meaning to resta from restare.

Both can mean remains/stays.

So these are both natural:

• Il cancello resta chiuso di notte
• Il cancello rimane chiuso di notte

In many contexts they are interchangeable. Sometimes style or regional preference may make one sound more natural than the other, but both are standard Italian.

A cancello is a gate, usually an outside gate, often metal, at the entrance to a property, garden, driveway, or courtyard.

A porta is a door.

So:

• cancello = gate
• porta = door

There is also portone, which usually means a large main door or entrance door of a building.

Italian normally uses the definite article more often than English does.

Here il cancello means the gate, referring to a specific gate, probably one already known from context, such as the gate of a building or property.

Italian would not normally say just Cancello resta chiuso di notte. The article is needed.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

Il cancello resta chiuso di notte
eel kan-CHEL-lo RES-ta kee-U-so dee NOT-te

A few helpful points:

• cancello: the ce sounds like che in English check
• chiuso: chi sounds like kee, not like English chai
• notte has a doubled tt, so the t is held a little longer than in English

If you want to sound natural, the stress is mainly on:

• canCELlo
• RESta
• chiUso
• NOTte

It can describe any of those, depending on context, but it most naturally sounds like a general rule or regular situation.

For example, it could mean:

• the gate is normally kept closed at night
• the gate stays closed every night
• this is the usual rule for the property

If you wanted to make the habitual meaning even clearer, you could say:

• Il cancello resta sempre chiuso di notte = The gate always remains closed at night

So without extra context, the sentence usually sounds like a standing rule or usual practice.