Viterbo is known as the 'City of the Popes', and its grandest monument is the Palazzo dei Papi, the Gothic papal palace built when the popes moved their court here in the 13th century. Its elegant loggia and great hall witnessed the longest papal election in history. The medieval San Pellegrino quarter, with its stone towers, arches, and external staircases, is one of the best-preserved medieval districts in Italy and a memorable stage on the Via Francigena.
Highlights
- The hall of the first conclave, roof removed to hasten the cardinals
- Gothic loggia of the Palazzo dei Papi floating above the Faul valley
- San Pellegrino quarter of towers, arches and external staircases
- Grey peperino stone quarried since Etruscan times
- Dante's steaming Bulicame springs outside the walls to ease tired legs
At a glance
| Period | Medieval (Gothic, 13th century) |
|---|---|
| Stage | 24 — Langres to Champlitte |
Take care
- Dim, stepped and uneven old-town lanes
- Sturdy shoes serve better than sandals
History
The palace was built between 1255 and 1266 at the urging of the popular captain Raniero Gatti, its airy loggia and grand staircase following in 1267, while the papal curia, resident in Viterbo from 1257, made the city the effective capital of the Church. Several popes were elected within these walls before the court moved away after 1281, leaving the building to Viterbo's bishops. One side of the loggia was later demolished, and restoration around the end of the 19th century returned the palace to its medieval appearance.
Myth & legend
It was at the Palazzo dei Papi that the cardinals, unable to agree on a new pope for nearly three years, were finally locked in, and the roof removed to hasten them, giving rise to the very word 'conclave' (cum clave, 'with a key'). The exasperated citizens' tactic at last produced the election of Pope Gregory X in 1271.
Geology
Viterbo is a city of peperino, a tough grey volcanic stone flecked with dark crystals like peppercorns, formed from ignimbrites of the neighbouring Cimini and Vico volcanoes and quarried since Etruscan times. The volcanic heat is not quite finished: west of the walls, sulphurous springs such as the Bulicame, mentioned by Dante, still rise steaming along deep fractures.
Wildlife & nature
Swifts and swallows nest in the eaves and stone towers of the medieval quarter, and the city's fountains and gardens draw blackcaps, serins and black redstarts. Above the town rise the Monti Cimini, where the UNESCO-listed old-growth beech wood of Monte Cimino grades into chestnut, Turkey oak and hornbeam and shelters wolves, scops owls, nightjars and spectacled salamanders.
The view
The Gothic loggia of the Palazzo dei Papi floats above the Faul valley, slender columns framing open sky, with the duomo and grey peperino lanes of San Pellegrino behind.
Photography
Frame the loggia's arcade against the sky from Piazza San Lorenzo, then work the lanes of San Pellegrino, where stone arches and outside stairs suit soft morning light.
When to visit
Spring and autumn are kindest; on 3 September the Macchina di Santa Rosa, a towering illuminated spire carried through the streets at night, packs the city with crowds.
Getting there
Regional trains from Rome serve Viterbo's Porta Romana and Porta Fiorentina stations, and buses fan out across the Tuscia; walkers arrive along the ancient basalt Cassia.
Where to stay
Convent and religious guesthouses in and near the walls welcome credential holders, with hotels and B&Bs in the medieval quarter; book early around Santa Rosa.
Food & water
Viterbo is a city of fountains: medieval fonts flow in nearly every piazza of the old town, so a bottle refills easily between the palace and the San Pellegrino lanes.
Safety
Old-town lanes are dim, stepped and uneven — sturdy shoes serve better than sandals. In an emergency dial 112.
Accessibility
Piazza San Lorenzo is reachable on sloping streets, but the loggia and great hall involve stairs; San Pellegrino's charm lies in cobbles, arches and external steps.
Visitor tips
Get a timbro at the cathedral complex, stand in the hall where the first conclave was forced to a decision, and ease tired legs at the thermal springs outside the city.
The guide, in full
The written guide to this site.
Step into the Piazza San Lorenzo in the heart of Viterbo and you are standing where, for a heady half-century, the centre of the Christian world lay. In the mid twelve hundreds the popes moved their court from restless Rome to this fortified hill town, and it has been called the City of the Popes ever since. Before you rises their palace, the Palazzo dei Papi, completed around the year twelve sixty-six: a bold Gothic hall lifted above the street on great arches, with a broad ceremonial stair climbing to its door. Beside it floats the loveliest thing in Viterbo, the loggia of the popes, added in twelve sixty-seven, a screen of slender paired columns and interlacing arches so delicate it looks like lace cut from grey stone, with a fountain playing in its floor and the green valley dropping away below. It was in the great hall behind that facade that this palace earned its place in every history book. When Pope Clement the Fourth passed from this world in twelve sixty-eight, the cardinals gathered here to choose a successor, and they could not agree. Months went by, then years. The people of Viterbo, hosting the most powerful committee on earth, watched in mounting disbelief, and at last they took matters into their own hands. The city locked the cardinals inside the palace, and the phrase for it, cum clave, under lock and key, gave the world a new word: conclave. When even that failed, the Viterbesi cut the cardinals' meals down to the plainest fare, and finally climbed up and stripped away part of the roof, leaving their eminences to deliberate beneath the open sky. After thirty-three months, the longest papal election there has ever been, the exhausted electors chose Teobaldo Visconti, a churchman who was not even a cardinal and was far away on crusade in the Holy Land. He returned as Pope Gregory the Tenth, and, having learned the lesson personally, wrote the strict rules of the sealed conclave that the Church follows to this day. Look up at the hall's tall windows and imagine the roof tiles coming off above the most powerful men in Europe. Viterbo rewards wandering. Walk south into the quarter of San Pellegrino and you enter one of the best-preserved medieval districts in all of Italy: a dim, beautiful maze of dark peperino stone, arches vaulting over the lanes, towers shouldering above the rooftops, and everywhere the profferli, the graceful outside staircases climbing to first-floor doorways that are the signature of medieval Viterbo. Little has changed here in seven hundred years, and pilgrims in Sigeric's tradition have walked past these same doorsteps all the while. The city keeps its passions alive too: each September, in honour of Santa Rosa, the young patroness of Viterbo, a hundred porters called the facchini shoulder a glowing tower nearly thirty metres tall and carry it at a run through the darkened streets, a feat of devotion the whole city turns out to see. From the loggia, take a last look at the hills you have crossed, then let the lanes funnel you south towards the gate. Viterbo is the final great city of the Via Francigena; beyond it lie only small towns, hazel woods, and at last the domes of Rome. The popes once travelled your very road. Walk it well.
Common questions
How old is Palazzo dei Papi, Viterbo?
Palazzo dei Papi, Viterbo dates from the Medieval (Gothic, 13th century) period.
How do I get to Palazzo dei Papi, Viterbo?
Regional trains from Rome serve Viterbo's Porta Romana and Porta Fiorentina stations, and buses fan out across the Tuscia; walkers arrive along the ancient basalt Cassia.
Is Palazzo dei Papi, Viterbo accessible?
Piazza San Lorenzo is reachable on sloping streets, but the loggia and great hall involve stairs; San Pellegrino's charm lies in cobbles, arches and external steps.
When is the best time to visit Palazzo dei Papi, Viterbo?
Spring and autumn are kindest; on 3 September the Macchina di Santa Rosa, a towering illuminated spire carried through the streets at night, packs the city with crowds.
Is there food and water at Palazzo dei Papi, Viterbo?
Viterbo is a city of fountains: medieval fonts flow in nearly every piazza of the old town, so a bottle refills easily between the palace and the San Pellegrino lanes.
Where can I stay near Palazzo dei Papi, Viterbo?
Convent and religious guesthouses in and near the walls welcome credential holders, with hotels and B&Bs in the medieval quarter; book early around Santa Rosa.
What should I know before visiting Palazzo dei Papi, Viterbo?
Get a timbro at the cathedral complex, stand in the hall where the first conclave was forced to a decision, and ease tired legs at the thermal springs outside the city.
Is Palazzo dei Papi, Viterbo safe to visit?
Old-town lanes are dim, stepped and uneven — sturdy shoes serve better than sandals. In an emergency dial 112.
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