Piazza San Lorenzo
Piazza San Lorenzo sits at the highest point of Viterbo's old city, and the view from up here — over rooftops and down into the Faul valley — makes it immediately clear why the medieval popes chose this hill as their refuge from Rome. The piazza is anchored by two buildings that faced each other across centuries of ecclesiastical power: the 12th-century Cattedrale di San Lorenzo, its campanile striped in white travertine and blue-green basalt, and the Palazzo dei Papi, whose open Gothic loggia was added in 1267 by the Captain of the People, Andrea di Berardo Gatti.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who return tend to linger on the loggia of the Palazzo dei Papi longer than they planned — the arcade frames the valley in a way that photographs struggle to capture. They also note that arriving just before 16:00 lets you slip into the cathedral at the quietest moment of the day, before the last light shifts off the nave.
The story behind Piazza San Lorenzo
A parish church dedicated to Saint Lawrence stood here before the 12th century, but the piazza took on its present weight when Pope Alexander IV transferred the Papal Curia from Rome to Viterbo in 1257, citing the unrest plaguing the Eternal City. The Palazzo dei Papi was constructed between 1255 and 1266 and enlarged thereafter; the piazza effectively became the seat of the Catholic Church until 1281. Its most notorious episode unfolded inside the Aula del Conclave, where a papal election dragged on for 33 months — the longest conclave in history — until the exasperated citizens of Viterbo locked the cardinals in, cut their food and stripped the roof off to force a decision.
The cathedral has been less fortunate in its caretakers. A 16th-century reconstruction stripped much of its Romanesque decoration, and Cardinal Gambara commissioned a Renaissance façade that altered its character further. A bomb blast in 1944 caused extensive damage, after which post-war restorers removed the accumulated Baroque additions. The northern loggia of the Palazzo dei Papi, once a mirror of the surviving southern face, collapsed in an earthquake in 1325 and was never rebuilt.
Good to know
The cathedral is free to enter; a €9 ticket covers restricted areas, the Museo Colle and the Palazzo dei Papi. Closed Mondays. A lift in the far-right corner of the piazza descends to the Faul valley's free car park. The nearest train station, Viterbo Porta Romana, is an 18-minute walk. The combined ticket makes pairing this with nearby Rocca Albornoz straightforward.
Spring — mid-April through mid-June — and early autumn are the most comfortable seasons to spend time on the piazza. Summer can push above 37°C, though evenings cool noticeably. Winter is mild but the tramontana, a sharp north wind, can make the exposed hilltop feel considerably colder than the thermometer suggests.
Where is Piazza San Lorenzo?
Location
- In Viterbo
- 42.4165, 12.1045
- Open in Google Maps
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