What to see in Viterbo: the city of the Popes in a day

We go looking for wonder far away, while the capital of the Tuscia sits less than half an hour from the villa and an hour from Rome. Viterbo is the city of the Popes: for some twenty years in the 13th century it was the centre of Christendom. Today it holds the best-preserved medieval quarter in Europe, and you can walk it, unhurried, in a single day.

San Pellegrino, the Middle Ages still standing

The old heart is the San Pellegrino quarter: a maze of lanes in the volcanic stone of the Tuscia, where the 13th-century street plan has reached us almost untouched. You walk beneath arches and bridge-houses — homes that leap across the street and roof it over — and in front of the houses rise the profferli, the outdoor stone staircases that climb to the first floor, the signature of Viterbo's architecture. Piazza San Pellegrino, with its tower and its 13th-century palaces, is one of the most photographed corners in Lazio.

The Papal Palace and the longest conclave in history

Above the city rises the Papal Palace, with its Gothic loggia of pierced arches looking out over the valley — the emblem of Viterbo. Here, within these walls, a word we still use today was born. When Clement IV died in 1268, the cardinals gathered to elect a new pope and could not agree: the election lasted 1,006 days, nearly three years, the longest conclave in history. Exasperated, the people of Viterbo locked the cardinals inside the palace cum clave — "with a key", the very root of the word conclave — cut their food down to bread and water, and even tore off the roof. Only then, in 1271, was Gregory X elected. Today you can visit the Conclave Hall and, next to it, the Cathedral of San Lorenzo and the Colle del Duomo Museum.

Piazza del Plebiscito and the fountains

The civic city has its centre in Piazza del Plebiscito, framed by the Palazzo dei Priori: inside, the Sala Regia is entirely frescoed with views of the castles of Viterbo's countryside, and from its loggias a small garden opens onto the valley. Viterbo is also a city of fountains: the most famous is the Fontana Grande, spindle-shaped, the model for many fountains across the Tuscia. Wander from square to square and you will meet several, each with its own story.

And then the spas and the cinema

Viterbo is not only stone. It has been a spa town for centuries: a few minutes from the centre are the Terme dei Papi and the free hot springs of the Bullicame, to close the day in warm water. And in summer the centre becomes an open-air cinema with the Tuscia Film Fest.

The Macchina di Santa Rosa, the night of 3 September

But if one thing has made Viterbo famous around the world, it is this. Every year, on the evening of 3 September, the lights of the centre go out and around a hundred Facchini dressed in white and red lift onto their shoulders the Macchina di Santa Rosa: a bell tower of light almost thirty metres tall and weighing five tonnes, carried through the dark medieval lanes for over a kilometre, up to the sanctuary of the city's patron saint. A rite repeated for more than 750 years, inscribed since 2013 on UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Anyone in the Tuscia in early September should not miss it: it is one of those nights you never forget.

Where to stay to visit Viterbo

Villa Vacanze Valentina is in Bassano in Teverina, less than half an hour from the centre of Viterbo and an hour from Rome: you spend the day among the medieval lanes and come back to sleep in the silence of the countryside, with the pool waiting on your return. Discover the holiday home with pool or write to us on WhatsApp. Every festival and food fair in the area, season by season, is in our calendar of Tuscia events.