Diocesi di Viterbo
The Diocese of Viterbo comprises 35 municipalities in Tuscia Viterbese, including Bagnoregio, Bolsena, Castiglione in Teverina, Celleno, Graffignano, and Vitorchiano. It is divided into 99 parishes with more than 300 churches. The seat of the diocese is in medieval Viterbo, in the Palazzo Papale, a 12th-century building famous for being the place where the cardinals, in 1268, elected the Pope in the first and longest modern conclave. The monumental complex, the religious and artistic heart of the city, also includes the Romanesque Cathedral of San Lorenzo and the modern Colle del Duomo Museum in a striking setting enclosed by the famous Loggia delle Benedizioni.
Places to visit
Church of the Gonfalone in Viterbo
Its real name would be Church of St. Giovanni Battista, but for all the people of Viterbo it is simply the Church of the Gonfalone because it was erected for the specific purpose of guarding the city's banner. The austere facade, almost devoid of decoration, helps to...
Basilica of Our Lady of la Quercia
Although the building was built only in the 16th century, Upper Lazio's devotion to Our Lady of la Quercia has its roots in the previous two centuries. Legend reports several miracles not all lost in the distant past: starting with the spontaneous bending of the...
Church of Santa Maria della Peste in Viterbo
Now used as a shrine to the fallen, the deconsecrated church of Santa Maria della Peste was built between 1494 and 1501 by Paolo Mazzatosta and a mysterious Martino, a grain tanner, as inscriptions on the floor composed of brightly colored tiles inform us. It is most...
Church of San Marco in Viterbo
A commemorative plaque testifies to the consecration of St. Marco's Church on December 1, 1198 by Pope Innocenzo III himself, accompanied by 15 of his cardinals. The church has a simple single-nave architecture, covered by a gabled roof to better suit the needs of the...
Shrine of Saint Rosa of Viterbo
The shrine of St. Rose, represents the heart of Viterbo's identity, so strong and pervasive is the population's veneration of the young saint. Originally the church of St. Mary, it was renamed St. Rosa in 1258 when Pope Alessandro IV had the saint's body moved there....
Church of Santissima Trinità in Viterbo
An earlier church, with an adjoining convent, had been built around the middle of the 13th century and had been embellished with a fresco by Gregorio and Donato D'Arezzo of the Giotto school depicting the Virgin Mary. Chronicles from almost a century later report the...
Central Library and Archives of the Augustinian Province of Italy
The original core of the library consists of the book collection of the Convent of the Santissima Trinità in Viterbo, founded by the Augustinians of Tuscia around 1250. It was also designated from its origins to the preservation of the archives relating to all...
Convent of St. Francesco alla Rocca
Slightly set back at the top of the slope of Piazza San Francesco in Viterbo, the convent's monumental complex is currently owned by the Province of Viterbo while the Basilica belongs to the Italian State. The friars, who have inhabited the entire complex since 1236,...
Archives and Library of the Roman Province of Minor Conventual Friars
The Archives and Library of the Convent of San Francesco alla Rocca in Viterbo preserve the documentation related to the Franciscan order operating in Lazio. In 1970 it was decided by the provincial chapter to have the book collections present in the various friaries...
Church of the Santissima Trinità
in the southern part of the city, just beyond Porta Romana, is the Church of the Santissima Trinità, also known as St. Amanzio's, to which is attached the building that once housed the long-deconsecrated Church of St. Charles. In 1476, by decision of the city, the...
