Viterbo, Diocese of

VITERBO, DIOCESI di (Diocese of Viterbo). - Located in Lazio, in the province of V., it has united with it the diocese of Tuscania (v.), with which it measures an area of 720 sq km, bounded by the dioceses of Tarquinia, Montefiascone, Bagnoregio, Orte, and Sutri. Its 74,000 inhabitants are distributed among 39 parishes, with 68 secular priests and 58 regular priests, 12 male congregations and 40 female congregations. It has its major seminary at La Quercia, shared with the other dioceses of upper Lazio, and its minor seminary near the episcopal palace, rebuilt in 1952 because it was damaged by the war. It is immediately subject to the Holy See, with its court of appeal at the vicariate of Rome (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 449).

V. rises at the foot of the Cimini Mountains, on an undulating plain from which a vast flatland unwinds, rising gradually toward the Volsini Mountains. After Rome it is the most notable city of Lazio. It began its life as an Etruscan center, then a modest Roman colony. In the middle of the 8th century it is recorded as Castrum Viterbii. It is not proven that its name derives from Vetus urbs, as some believe it was formerly called. In 773 Desiderius, king of the Lombards, fortified it in order to have a base for the conquest of Rome, which did not follow; the Franks donated it to the Church. But the importance of V. begins with the 12th century, when the long series of disputes between the Popes and the Romans opened. Eugene III took refuge there in 1145, while Frederick Barbarossa in 1164 established there the seat of the antipope Clement III. Otto I and Frederick II were defeated by the Viterbese, while the Popes of the 13th century established their seat there in war against Rome. In 1271 the captain of the people Raniero Gatti, seeing that the cardinals gathered in Conclave in the papal palace could not decide on the election of the new pontiff, shut them in — also on the advice of St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio — in the palace, had the roof removed and rationed the food, until Gregory X was elected, who regulated the rules of the Conclave. Urban IV had also been elected at V. (1261), and afterward John XXI (1276), Nicholas III (1277) and Martin IV (1281) were elected there; the Viterbese opposed the latter as a foreigner, becoming subject to excommunication and to the absence of the popes for 86 years. During this time the lordship of the Di Vico prevailed, but in 1345 Cardinal Egidio Albornoz definitively subjected V. to the Papal State.

It is difficult to determine the time of the evangelical preaching at V. But indications are not lacking to believe it began no later than the 4th century, especially if one takes into account the great consular road, the Cassia, which crosses it. In its territory a Christian seal and ring have been found, which G. B. De Rossi believed could be dated from the 3rd to the 4th century (cf. Bull. d'arch. crist., 2nd series, 2 [1871], pp. 35-37), and some Christian sarcophagi. A Passion (BHL, 8469-70) of the 9th or 10th century recounts that a Valentine, a priest, and a Hilary, a deacon, under Maximian, were led to the castle of V., beheaded outside the walls at the place called "Via Strata" (perhaps the Via Cassia) and buried in a place called "Camillarius" or "Cavillarius" (3 November). An appendix to the Passion adds that at the time of Gregory IV (828-44) the abbot Sicard of Farfa had the relics of the martyrs transferred to his abbey church. In some charters of 824, 817 and 788, that is, before the translation to Farfa, a church or "cella S. Valentini in Silice" (the "Via Strata") is recorded. These are the oldest documents of the cult of a St. Valentine in V., and it is not possible to say whether he is different from the one of Terni.

In 1172 the Viterbese destroyed Ferento, 9 km from V., the Etruscan-Roman city that, certainly at the time of St. Gregory the Great, was an episcopal see. In the Dialogues (I, 9; III, 38) the Pope recalls the bishops of Ferento: Boniface and Redento. The territory of the ancient diocese passed in part, in 1192, to that of V., when Celestine III gave the "Castrum Viterbii" the name of city and created it an episcopal see, uniting to it Tuscania, Civitavecchia and Bieda (v. TUSCANIA). At that time the bishop of Tuscania was Cardinal Giovanni of the title of St. Clement, who styled himself bishop of V. and Tuscania, thus demonstrating from the very first moment the de facto superiority of the Viterbese see, which continued even when the S. Romana Rota, in 1617, declared the two sees to be united aeque et principaliter. Until the fall of the Papal State, V. was the seat of the legate of the Patrimony of St. Peter.

In the series of bishops of V. there is no lack of men distinguished for learning and for governance; it will suffice to recall the two cardinals Brancaccio, Francesco Maria and Stefano, uncle and nephew, of the 17th century. V. is the birthplace of the Augustinian theologian and philosopher Egidio Antonini, called "da V." (v. EGIDIO DA V.), of St. Rose (v.), whose venerated remains rest in the church of the same name, and of Blessed Rosa Venerini (v.). In the monastery of St. Bernardino, moreover, is preserved the body of St. Giacinta Marescotti (v.), who played so great a part in the history of Viterbese society in the 18th century.

The cathedral church of St. Lawrence, with the adjoining episcopal palace — also called papal because of the residence of the Roman pontiffs there in the 13th century — dates back to the institution of the diocese of V. Damaged by the bombardments of 1943-44, the restoration of 1952, carried out by the Superintendency of Monuments, caused the Baroque superstructures of the interior to disappear, restoring its original Romanesque appearance. The churches of St. Sixtus (of the 9th century, rebuilt in the 12th century), of St. Mary of the Truth (12th century) and of St. Francis (13th century), all damaged, have also been restored with the intention of returning them to their original state. In the civic Museum, alongside the archaeological collections, there is a collection of medieval and modern Christian art that begins with the 9th century. The episcopal Archive, because of a fire, does not preserve documents earlier than the 15th century; happier, on the other hand, has been the fate of that of the cathedral church, whose documents begin with 1031, and of that of the city, very rich, with documents from the 12th century onward. The sanctuary of St. Mary of the Oak, 3 km from V., one of the most beautiful creations of the Renaissance (ca. 1470-1525), must not be forgotten. The adjoining Dominican convent has been, since 1933, the seat of the regional Seminary of the dioceses of upper Lazio.

The bishop of V. and Tuscania also bears the title of abbot of St. Martin al Cimino, from the abbey of the same name first mentioned in a bull of Benedict IX (1045).

Benedetto Pesci

ART

A few traces of gates and tower foundations, dating back to Etruscan-Roman constructions, are all that remains of the oldest city. On the other hand, numerous buildings constructed in porous tufa, erected between the 10th and 14th centuries, still preserve today a fairly intact and fascinating appearance of the medieval city, despite wartime destruction. The bell towers of S. Maria della Cella and S. Sisto and the cloister of S. Maria Nuova date back to the 8th century. Within the walls, erected between the end of the 11th century and the second half of the 13th, the Porta del Carmine and the Porta di S. Pietro, once called Salicicchia and now fragmentary, preserve their 13th-century simplicity. The district of S. Pellegrino presents the typical character of medieval constructions.

In the churches of the Gesù, formerly of S. Silvestro, of S. Maria della Cella, and of S. Giovanni in Zoccoli, the architecture indicates the presence of Lombard master builders; the basilical style with colonnades is widespread; the roofing is preferably gabled, rarely vaulted; arches with double archivolts are frequent. At S. Sisto the very high presbytery shows ultramontane influences, as does the crypt of S. Andrea in Piano Scarano; the interior of S. Maria Nuova, with its broad colonnades, is instead linked to Pisan constructions (Toesca). The Cathedral was recently restored to its supposed medieval forms: built in modest form perhaps as early as the 8th century; among its many remodelings, the fundamental one was that of 1560, which led to the transformation of the major apse, today unfortunately isolated from the rest of the church. The Papal Palace and the most elegant loggia are well preserved in their original forms; the latter, though mutilated and deprived of its original polychromy, remains one of the most perfect examples of Viterbese Gothic.

This was introduced into Lazio by the Cistercians. Elements derived from their constructions are found in the cloisters of S. Maria in Gradi and of the former convent of the Paradiso, and in the facade of S. Francesco. The "flamboyant Gothic" appears on one side of the cloister of S. Maria della Verità (from 1912 until the Second World War the seat of the Museo civico). To the 13th and 14th centuries also belong some towers and numerous fountains, among which the spindle-shaped ones (Fontana Grande) give the city a particular character. Interesting examples of civil architecture are the Casa Poscia and the Casa di Valentino della Pagnotta.

The main facade of the Palazzo Farnese marks the transition from Gothic to Renaissance. The Palazzo Comunale, the austere Palazzo Chigi, the church of S. Maria delle Fortezze (on a design by Battista di Giuliano da Cortona) and that of S. Maria della Quercia are the noblest monuments of Renaissance Viterbo. The Baroque does not assume in V. forms of particular interest compared with Rome (Porta Romana, church of the Gonfalone [1665] and of S. Agostino), while the 18th century has a work of extraordinary interest: the remodeling of S. Maria in Gradi, by Niccolò Salvi (1738).

Less rich in works of sculpture, V. nevertheless offers interesting artistic material in this field as well: in the Museo civico are preserved numerous bases of statues and columns, cippi, and funerary urns from the Etruscan-Roman period. In the church of S. Sisto the baptismal font is a Roman hour-glass transformed in the Christian era, and likewise of the Roman period is the sarcophagus leaning against the facade of the church of S. Angelo in Spata. Roman marble-workers worked at V. in the Romanesque age, also on forms rare in the capitals with sphinxes and dolphins of the Cathedral; of great plastic power in the study of the antique is the sphinx, now in the Museo civico, formerly in S. Maria in Gradi, dated to 1286.

But, as in Rome so in Lazio and particularly in the Viterbo area, with the late 14th century the classicizing tradition was lost, and no particularly notable works by local artists are encountered; in the most valuable ones, influences from Sienese masters are noticeable. In S. Francesco, the tomb known as that of Gerardo Landriani remains faithful to the models of the baldachin tomb; on columns is the mausoleum of Clement IV (1274) by Pietro d'Oderisio, which has affinities with the art of Arnolfo, of whom traces remain in the figures of the acolytes in the tomb of Cardinal Fra' Marco from the second half of the 14th century. The tomb of Adrian V is considered a probable work of Arnolfo himself. A 16th-century Viterbese sculptor is Bernardino di Giovanni, to whom the main door in the facade of the church of S. Maria della Quercia (1506) is owed, where there are also a tabernacle by Andrea Bregno (1490) and delicate terracottas by Andrea della Robbia.

Viterbese painting maintains constant relations with Roman, Sienese and Umbrian painting, which are variously reflected in it: of distant Cavallinian manner are the remains of frescoes in the crypt of S. Andrea at Piano Scarano, and likewise of Roman workmanship in design are the miniatures under crystal in the form of discs found in the mausoleum of Pope Clement IV in S. Francesco. A small triptych in S. Maria Nuova shows the more strictly Byzantinizing orientation proper to the 13th century.

(phot. Alinari)

VITERBO, DIOCESE OF - Funerary monument to Card. Fra' Marco [Parentezza] da V. (2nd half of the 14th century) - Viterbo, church of S. Francesco.

But Viterbese masters worked at Avignon in the Palace of the Popes: Pietro da Viterbo is the major local 14th-century master, together with Matteo Giovannetti. Ilario da Viterbo leaves in the Porziuncola at Assisi an altarpiece (1393), close to the manner of Simone Martini; paintings in S. Francesco and in S. Maria Nuova repeat Sienese models. In the Renaissance the certainly most important work is the cycle of frescoes painted by Gozzoli in S. Rosa in 1453, destroyed in the 17th century. Gozzoli and Piero della Francesca find a singular accord in local painting in the beautiful frescoes of Lorenzo da Viterbo (almost destroyed in 1944) in the Cappella Mezzatosta in S. Maria della Verità (1469). Other 15th-century masters are Antonio di Francesco da Viterbo, Francesco di Antonio called il Balletta, Gabriele Francesco da Viterbo, Carolino da Viterbo, Giovanni Francesco da Avanzano, called il Fantastico, Antonio del Massaro called il Pastura, Costantino Zelli, Maestro Monaldo.

Among the works of non-local masters, the splendid Pietà by Sebastiano del Piombo in the Museo civico, formerly in S. Francesco, excels above all, and of the highest quality is the masterpiece of Gerolamo da Cremona with the Savior and saints in a chapel of the Cathedral (1472), which introduced into local painting the unusual Squarcionesque Paduan manner. A Viterbese artist active at the end of the 16th century is Tarquinio Ligustri (Sala Regia of the Palazzo comunale); the frescoes of the cloister of S. Maria in Gradi (1620) are owed to Giacomo Cordelli. Caravaggism too had in Viterbo a lively exponent in Bartolomeo Cavarozzi (Visitation, Museo civico; S. Isidoro, church of S. Angelo; Madonna, church of the Seminary). Guercinesque is Angelo Pucciati, and in the orbit of Pietro da Cortona are the brothers Antonio and Giovanni Francesco Bonifazi. Of the 17th century the greatest local glory is nevertheless G. Francesco Romanelli, who was also in Paris for Louis XIV. Of his son Urbano, until a few years ago the fresco of the vault of the Cathedral was preserved, where the apse, severed from the present church, is decorated with the important frescoes of Passeri. Of the 18th century are Anton Angelo Falaschi, Domenico Corvi, Vincenzo Stringelli, who decorates the vault of the church of the Confalone (1756-60), whose perspective paintings are the work of Mazzetti. Of the end of the 19th century is Pietro Vanni, to whom the decoration of the Camposanto is owed. - See pl. CLI.

Luisa Mortari