    
|
 Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997 |
|
|
Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997 |
Click here and add this page to your favorites!
|
Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: VIR-WAT |
|
|
VITERBO , a city and episcopal see of the province of Rome, Italy, 54 M. by rail N.N.W. of Rome, 1073 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1901) 17,344 (town), 21,258 (commune). It lies on the old high road between Florence and Rome, and besides the railway to Rome it has a branch line (25 m.) going N.E. to Attigliano, on the railway from Rome to Florence. It is picturesquely surrounded by luxuriant gardens, and enclosed by walls and towers, which date partly from the Lombard period. The streets are paved with large lava blocks, of which the town is also built. It has many picturesque medieval towers and other edifices (the Palazzo degli Alessandri is perhaps the most interesting), for which indeed it is one of the best towns in central Italy, and some elegant fountains; among the latter may be mentioned the Gothic Fontana Grande (1279, restored in 1424) and Fontana della Rocca by Vignola (1566). The citadel (Rocca) itself, erected by Cardinal Albornoz in 1345, is now a barrack. The Palazzo Patrizi is a building of the early Renaissance in the Florentine style. The cathedral, a fine basilica, of the 12th (?) century, with columns and fantastic capitals of the period, originally flat-roofed and later vaulted, with 16th-century restorations, contains the tomb of Pope John XXI., and has a Gothic campanile in black and white stone. It is more probable that it was S. Silvestro (now Chiesa del Gesu) and not the cathedral that, in 1271, was the scene of the murder, on the steps of the high altar, during public worship , of Henry, son of Richard of Cornwall
original
Andrea
hall
is the handsome early Renaissance pilgrimage church of the Madonno della Quercia; the facade is adorned with three lunettes by Andrea
mineral
spring of Bollicame, about 2 M. off, is alluded to by Dante (Inf. xiv. 79).Viterbo is by some identified with Surrina nova, which is only mentioned in inscriptions , while some place it at the sulphur springs, called the Bollicame, to the west of Viterbo on the line of the Via Cassia, where . Roman remains exist. This might well be the site of the Roman town. Here the Via Cassia was joined by the Via Ciminia, passing east of the Lacus Ciminius, while a road branched off to Ferentum. See E. Bormann in Corp. Inscr. Lat. xi. (Berlin, 1888), p. 454; H. Nissen, Italische Landeskunde (Berlin, 1902), ii. 343 The forgeries of the Dominican Annio da Viterbo (d. 1502) were directed to prove that Viterbo was the site of the Fanum Voltumnae (see, however, MONTEFIASCONE). There are no archaeological remains in Viterbo itself, except a few courses of masonry under the bridge which connects the cathedral with the city, near the cathedral, possibly the pier of an older bridge. But the site is not unreasonably considered to be ancient, and the name to be derived from Velus urbs; tombs, too, have been found in the neighbourhood, and it is not an unlikely assumption that here, as elsewhere, the medieval town occupies the Etruscan site. It was fortified by the Lombard king Desiderius (the decree ascribed to him, now in the municipal palace, has long been recognized as a forgery of Annio). It is the centre of the territory of the " patrimony of Peter," which the countess Matilda of Tuscany gave to the papal see in the 12th century; in the 13th century it became a favourite papal residence. Popes,Urban IV. (1261), Gregory X. (1271), John XXI. (1276), Nicholas III. (1277) and Martin IV. (1281) were elected here, and it was at Viterbo that Alexander IV. (1261), Clement IV. (1268), Adrian V. (1276) and John XXI. (1277) died. (T. As.)End of Article: VITERBO If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/VIR_WAT/VITERBO.html"> VITERBO </a> |
|
|
(Previous) VITELLIUS, AULUS |
(Next) VITET, LUDOVIC (1802-1873) |
Jesus Christ Saves Ministries, P.O. Box 70696, Pasadena, CA 91117JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-present. |
Free & Cheap Cell
Phones |
Cheap Long Distance
Phone Service Carriers |
Talk America Local Phone Service
|
Ztel & MCI - Unlimited Long Distance
Compare
Cell Phone Plans & Companies |
International Calling Cards & Prepaid Phone Cards |
Voice Over IP Broadband Internet Phone
Service | Wireless
Phone Plans & Cheap Cell Phones
|
_____________________________________________________________________________
