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The ‘Palazzo dei Papi’ in Viterbo is perhaps the most remarkable medieval papal palace in Italy. Although some fine buildings also survive at other sites, such as Anagni, Rieti, and Orvieto, the palazzo at Viterbo is exceptional. With the sole exception of the well-known 14th-century ‘Palais des Papes’ in Avignon, France, the Viterbo palace is the best-preserved papal complex outside Rome. During its short period of use by the Pope, in the later 13th century, a great deal happened at Viterbo, not least the holding of five papal conclaves. These are well-documented, as are all the major building phases.
Viterbo lies some 60km north of Rome, with the papal palace occupying a prominent setting on the northern side of the Castel S Lorenzo, an old castle lying within the south-western part of the later medieval walled city of Viterbo. (The fortifications of the castle were destroyed after the people of Viterbo defeated the emperor Frederick II in November 1243, while the city walls were built in stages during the late 12th and 13th centuries.) Immediately to the south of the palace is the church of S Lorenzo, which was given episcopal status by Pope Celestine III (1191-1198) in 1193. The bishop’s cathedra was moved here from Tuscania at this time, and the former parish church of S Lorenzo was rebuilt soon afterwards as a cathedral with an aisled basilica featuring a western transept containing three shallow western apses. Adjoining this transept and running northwards from it was a c.34m-long range, built as a residence for the first bishops. The surviving southern part of this range extends further westwards and may be, in part, a building dating from before 1193, perhaps belonging to the castle. The rest of the range, however, must be the episcopal residence that was built in the years around 1200.
This residence forms two parts: a long southern first-floor hall on a barrel- vaulted undercroft, and a northern chamber block that was built above a lower portion of the hill, and has two levels of undercrofts (the lower one barrel-vaulted) below the principal room. On its west side, the range incorporates an internal staircase, and to the west a set of latrines or garderobes, with a series of chutes emptying beneath them (between buttresses and covered by semicircular arches). The uppermost part of this chamber block was apparently rebuilt for Pope John XXI in 1276-1277, as part of a western addition to the palace. As we will see, this extension became infamous when it collapsed in 1277, while the Pope was inside. The main entrance to the bishop’s residence must have been reached via an external staircase on the east side, which led to the first-floor hall. A covered walkway may have run southwards, as a claustro S Laurentii is mentioned in 1244, connecting the north door of the residence to the nearby 12th-century cathedral of S Lorenzo.
A papal retreat
In 1257, unfavourable circumstances in Rome prompted Pope Alexander IV to take refuge in Viterbo. Over the next couple of years, a large three-storey chamber block was added to the north-east side of the bishop’s palace for the Pope’s use. This work was undertaken by Raniero Gatti, the Capitano del Popolo. The new addition had a basement comprising an east–west barrel-vault, while two large cameras lay above, one positioned above the other. Each of these was strengthened with three diaphragm arches. The lower chamber still contains its original pair of doors on the south side, as well as its four restored double windows with associated seats to the north. The upper chamber, which was later given new windows, is c.15m long by 12m wide.
Pope Alexander IV tried to convene an ecumenical council in Rome in 1261, but due to local disturbances there, he was unable to do so, and instead transferred the venue to Viterbo. Unfortunately, he died at Viterbo on 25 May, just as the council was about to begin, and the new chambers saw immediate use for the conclave that followed. (The first ‘conclave’ – from cum clave, meaning ‘with a key’ – had been held in Rome in 1241, so this method of locking in the cardinals to elect a new Pope must still have been a novelty.) On 29 August, they elected Jacques Pantaléon, a Frenchman and former patriarch of Jerusalem, as Pope Urban IV (1261-1264). He probably held his coronation banquet in the new chambers after he was crowned in the Dominican church of S Maria di Gradi in Viterbo.
Another Frenchman, Guy Foulques, who had been the papal legate in England (1263-1265), was elected Pope Clement IV at Perugia on 5 February 1265. On 6 March 1266, he reached a formal agreement with the Commune of Viterbo, for them to finance and build for him a great hall with wardrobe, next to the chamber already made for Alexander IV. (It is described in the document as ‘one large, decent and beautiful hall, with a wardrobe, next to the chamber which the lord Pope Alexander IV of happy memory had built there.’) These fine structures were duly built and still survive. The ‘great hall’ is on the second floor, immediately to the east of Alexander IV’s upper chamber. It has internal dimensions of c.30m by 12m, and stands on two basements, a lower one with seven diaphragm arches, and an upper one with a barrel-vault. This upper basement, though unusual for having a barrel-vault, is also really a great hall in its own right. Both of these ‘great halls’ adjoin the earlier chambers, while a large two-storey latrine tower runs across the boundary between them. This must be the ‘wardrobe’ of the agreement (in England, ‘garderobe’ is the more commonly used euphemism). The tower also arches over the street running along the north side of the building – the Via San Clemente – and is cleverly built to have two levels of latrines for each principal floor, with chutes emptying down a steep slope into the river Uricionio to the north.
The following year, as stated by an inscription over the main doorway, saw a remarkable covered external gallery or loggia added to the east side of the great hall, which lay on a bridge, allowing a wide passageway to run beneath it. A year after that, a great octagonal pier was built under the bridge, allowing a large fountain and basin (rebuilt in the 1490s) to be installed in the centre of the loggia. This water feature was fed by a lead water-pipe that was supplied from an aqueduct. The loggia has a very fine south wall, containing openwork Gothic tracery on double columns, and there must have been similar tracery on the north, although sadly only the basal courses now survive. This magnificent loggia allowed the Pope and his cardinals to enjoy fine views over the piazza outside the cathedral, as well as across the city to the north. It would also have allowed the people of Viterbo to see the Pope and his entourage as they perambulated there.
To the south of the great hall and loggia, an equally magnificent monumental staircase was constructed, with a large landing on a bridge at the top of the stairs. This staircase was built across the junction between the great hall and the loggia, and at its head were two principal round-headed doorways providing access to these spaces. Above each doorway was a monumental inscription, and on the upper wall of the loggia many shields and devices of the Gatti family can be seen. To the east of the loggia is a post-medieval building that was rebuilt in September 2001, but there is clear evidence that this area once formed part of the 13th-century palace. A pair of original doorways lead into it at basement level, and it seems most likely that this was the service area, with a large kitchen present somewhere hereabouts. Immediately to the north lies the tower and part of the earlier church of S Maria della Cella. It is just possible that this church also served as the palace chapel, as no medieval chapel is known elsewhere in the building.
On 29 November 1268, Pope Clement IV died, probably at around the time that the new complex of buildings was nearing completion. He was buried in the Dominican church of S Maria di Gradi in Viterbo, with his magnificent tomb designed by Petrus Oderirius in the ‘Cosmati’ style, with intricate inlaid stonework. This monument was ultimately rebuilt in the Franciscan basilica in Viterbo, following the destruction of S Maria during the Second World War. It is very likely that this fine tomb was designed and built by the same Cosmati craftsman who had just finished working for the English king Henry III in the shrine area of Westminster Abbey.
A lengthy conclave
The conclave that followed the death of Clement IV lasted for nearly three years, due to infighting among the cardinals. We are told that the civic authorities in Viterbo became so annoyed with this slow progress that they locked the cardinals into the papal palace from May to June 1270, threatened to starve them, and then started to take the roof of the building off. It seems likely that the principal place where the conclave was being held was the upper chamber (that is, Alexander IV’s chamber), though it is entirely possible that the great hall was used as well. Either way, the drastic attempts to speed up proceedings by the Viterbese did not pay off, and it was only in September 1271 that a smaller committee of six cardinals elected Tedaldo Visconti. At the time, he was on a crusade at Acre with the future Edward I of England, and so did not reach Viterbo until 10 February 1272.
The next Pope to come to Viterbo was the short-lived Hadrian V (11 July 1276- 18 August 1276). As Cardinal Ottobono, he had proved a very effective papal legate in Britain, where he helped to resolve the conflict between Henry III and his barons. Hadrian V was already ill when he arrived at Viterbo from Rome, and died before being either consecrated or crowned. His tomb presents another fine work by the Cosmati craftsmen, and was once again rebuilt in the Franciscan basilica following wartime destruction.
A third conclave at Viterbo was accompanied by chaos and violence in the city, as the populace started to seal off the palace and lock in the cardinals. This time, though, a new Pope was swiftly elected, with the remarkable Portuguese scholar Cardinal Pedro Julião becoming Pope John XXI. This Pope wanted to continue his scholarly and astrological work, so the Viterbese hurriedly furnished him with a new set of private chambers on the north-west side of the palace, adjacent to the garde-robe area. Tragically, this new building collapsed on 20 May 1277, while the Pope was inside. Although John XXI was dragged from the rubble, he died after six days (his recumbent effigy can be seen on his tomb in the neighbouring cathedral). Remarkably, the ruined western half of this extension remains visible, because the next Pope, Nicholas III, only had the eastern portion rebuilt, where he took the opportunity to add a new upper chamber.
The conclave after Clement IV’s death lasted three years, due to infighting among the cardinals.
Pope Nicholas III was elected on 25 November 1277, following a six-month conclave. He was a member of the Orsini family, whose shields can be found in four places on the northern gable of the rebuilt wing. On 1 May 1278, the city council of Viterbo drew up an agreement with the Pope (as they had done in 1266), which included among other matters a promise to complete the rooms in the palace and to make other additions, if requested by the Pope or his chamberlain. We know that an audience hall was built for Pope Nicholas, who resided at Viterbo in the summer of 1278 and in the autumn of 1279. This hall is probably the upper chamber crowning the reconstructed portion of the palace added by Pope John XXI.
After Viterbo
Nicholas III was the last Pope to use Viterbo palace as his summer residence, and also became the first to make his residence at the Vatican palace in Rome. Although he carried out much building work there, the Lateran palace remained the main papal residence in Rome. Nicholas III died at his castle at Soriano, near Viterbo, on 22 August 1280. This was followed by the fifth and final conclave at Viterbo. It did not proceed smoothly, as the Viterbese chose to exclude all of the Orsini cardinals from the process. When the new Pope, Martin IV, was elected on 22 February 1281, he made his feelings clear by excommunicating the citizens of Viterbo for the whole of his pontificate (1281-1285). Thus ended a remarkable period of 24 years, when most of the fine palace at Viterbo was built, and when it lay – for much of that time – at the very heart of papal affairs. Luckily, its later use as the residence of the Bishop of Viterbo for over seven centuries has preserved most of the structures from the ‘papal’ period.
This strikingly well-preserved residence can be compared in form and size to the great residences being built by 13th-century bishops in England, where the great hall (often a large aisled structure) formed the centre of the complex. Later, when the Popes were removed to Avignon in the 14th century, during the so-called ‘Babylonian Captivity’ that followed a period of tension between the papacy and the French king, a colossal fortified papal residence was constructed. The resulting complex was far larger than any other medieval bishop’s palace. In England, only Edward III’s grandiose contemporary residence in the upper ward at Windsor Castle can be compared with it. After the popes returned to Rome, a new era dawned in 1447, when Pope Nicholas V moved his residence in the city from the Lateran palace to the Vatican, which he began to reconstruct. It was some 25 years after this that Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484) constructed a vast new private chapel – the ‘Sistine Chapel’ – which became the venue for all subsequent conclaves.
FURTHER READING:
• G M Radke (1996) Viterbo: profile of a 13th-century papal palace (Cambridge University Press).
• T Tatton-Brown (2001) ‘Medieval sites’, Archaeological Journal 158: 367-376.
• G Barraclough (1968) The Medieval Papacy (Thames & Hudson).
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