Orvieto - Walk III

From Piazza del Popolo

Ranieri della Greci ordered the building of the Palazzo del Popolo here in 1281 to  house the newly dominant magistracy of the Popolo.  He demolished a number of properties in front of it , [including the monastery of Santa Croce] to create a new civic space that counter-balanced:

• Piazza del Duomo - see Walk I and

• Piazza Maggiore (now Piazza della Repubblica) - see Walk II.  

Today, the piazza  has a disappointingly run down appearance, although it comes to life on Saturdays, when the parked cars are moved away for the weekly market.

[Well]

The bust at the foot of the external steps of Palazzo del Popolo portrays the Adolfo Cozza (1848 – 1910), a sculptor and inventor  who was born in Orvieto and who joined the "red shirts" of Giuseppe Garibaldi as a young man.  He designed (among many other things) the funicular railway that now links the city to the railway station (see below).

Proceeding in a counter-clockwise direction, Palazzo Simoncelli dominates the west end of the piazza.

Palazzo Simoncelli (13th century, restored in the 16th century) Giannotto Simoncelli restored this palace, which nevertheless incongruously preserves some elements of the original medieval building on its facade.  Giannotto is commemorated in the architraves of a number of the windows.  The ornate window to the right of the portal commemorates his son Tiberio, who probably commissioned it.  He also seems to have commissioned the balcony above the portal, which is attributed to Ippolito Scalza.

San Rocco stands in the middle of the south side of the piazza (at the corner of Via della Costituente, with Palazzo Bracci to the left of it.

San Rocco (1526) After an outbreak of plague in 1522-4, the Società dei Forestieri (an association of ‘foreigners) acquired some derelict property that formed part of the adjacent Case di Santa Chiesa  (Palazzo delle Sette).  They built this church, which they dedicated to the plague saint, St Roch.  Michele Sanmichele, who was a prominent member of the association, probably supervised the construction of this church.   Although the portal is original, the rest of the façade was rebuilt in 1930.  It incorporates part of the original campanile (to the left of the small rose window) that houses two church bells.

Palazzo Bracci (1875-81) Virginio Vespignani built this neoclassical palace for Giuseppe Bracci, the man responsible for financing the funicular railway (see below).  Towards the end of the century, the palace was adapted as Hotel Reale, where King Umberto I stayed in 1891. The portal (17th century) survives from the earlier palace on the site.

Continuing the circuit, the de-consecrated churches of San Bernardo and San Carlo Borromeo stand next to each other behind a common facade at the east end of the piazza.

San Bernardo (1315) and San Carlo Borromeo (1613-4) The original fabric of San Bernardo can be seen from the rear.  The victorios Guelfs built it after their victory over the Ghibellines on the feat of St Bernard, 1313. The Commune tried to persuade the Gesuits to establish a college in Orvieto in 1584, but this initiative was not immediately successful.  They therefore turned to the Padri della Dottrina Cristiana, who moved here in 1588 and opened a school in the adjoining properties. The adjacent church of San Carlo Borromeo was built three years after the canonisation of St Charles Borromeo. The two churches were de-consecrated and hidden behind a common facade in 1720, when they were adapted for secular use.

Leave the Piazza del Popolo along the right side of Palazzo del Popolo and walk across Piazza Vivaria.

Via Vivaria on the left (which becomes Via Pecorelli) once led through Porta Vivaria to a steep and narrow path down the cliff that was used in times of war.  No trace of the gate survives, but a new set of steps down the cliff now leads to the necropolis of Crocifisso del Tufo (which forms part of possible detours to Walk II and/or Walk IV).

Take Via Corsica ahead into Piazza Corsica, the site of the Tribunale (law court).  Turn right into Via della Pace, which leads to Piazza XXIX Marzo.  The square commemorates seven men from Orvieto who were arrested by the Fascists on suspicion of having supported the Resistance, tortured and executed on 29th March, 1944 at Camorena di Orvieto.   San Domenico is on the left.

Continue along Via Arnolfo di Cambio into Piazzza Angelo da Orvieto.  The Dominican nunnery of of San Pietro stood just beyond this point, on the site of the Ministry of Justice, until its demolition in 1864, at which point the nuns moved to San Paolo. 

Turn right and cross the piazza, with the de-consecrated church and ex-monastery of Sant' Antonio Abate on the left.  Continue along Via Angelo da Orvieto to Corso Cavour.   This was originally called Via Mercanzia, and wasthe main thoroughfare of the medieval city from Porta Maggiore (see Walk IV) to Porta Postierla (see below).  The church of Sant’ Angelo is opposite, with the excellent restaurant "I Sette Consoli" at right angles to it and a nice view of the left transept and campanile of the Duomo to the right. Turn right on leaving the church, and continue along Corso Cavour, past

• San Stefano on the right (number 246); and

• Santa Maria dei Servi on the left (in Via Belisario I).

Walk along the right side of Santa Maria dei Servi and then behind it, to see the original apse.  Continue as the street turns left and turn right at the end along Via Roma. 

The two entrances on the left guarded by flying eagles belong to the ex-Caserma Piave (airforce barracks).  This huge complex was built in 1932-6 on what was known as the Vigna Grande (large vineyard).

Continue into Piazza Cahen, named for Edoardo Cahen, a Jewish banker who provided funds for the struggle to achieve a united Italy and was made a marquis by King Umberto I in 1885.  Turn left and cross Via della Stazione, and walk past the remains of the Tempio del Belvedere on the right.

Turn right into the park and follow the path round the remains of the temple.  The steps ahead lead down to the Pozzo di San Patrizio.  Continue to re-enter Piazza Cahen along the left side of the terminus of the funicular railway.  The railway was designed by Adolfo Cozza in 1888 under the auspices of the mayor, Giacomo Bracci.  The upper part of the track passes through a tunnel that was excavated under Rocca del Albornoz (see below).  This original system, which was driven by water power, survived until 1970.  The present electric system was inaugurated in 1990.  (Electric buses from here rune frequently to the city centre).

Cross the front of the the terminus of the funicular railway and turn left into the park on the site of Rocca del Albornoz.  On leaving the park, turn left and left again through what was the second entrance to the Rocca and continue down (between the inner and outer curtain walls) to Porta Postierla.

Porta Postierla (13th century) This double-arched gate was once the most important entrance to the city after Porta Maggiore (see Walk IV).   In 1297, the Commune erected a statue of Pope Boniface VIII in a niche on the outer wall, where it would bless those entering the city.  The statue, which is attributed to Rubeus, is now preserved (along with another from Porta Maggiore) in San Francesco. The gate was incorporated later bricked up and incorporated between the inner and outer curtain walls of Rocca del Albornoz.  The level of the approach was lowered and a smaller pedestrian  entrance (postierla) was opened in it.

You can take a detour here of some 2.5 km to the Abbazia di SS Severo e Martirio.  Turn left downhill on Strada Fontana del Lione, then right at the end along the main road and first left to the abbey.  However, it is probably more convenient to take the alternative route set out in Walk IV, which returns  to this point.

Retrace your steps to Piazza Cahen and leave it along Via Postierla (to the left).  King Victor Emanuel III unveiled the war memorial on the left in 1928 in honour of the 500 men from Orvieto who had been killed in the First World War.

Continue, following the long wall of the monastery of San Paolo on the left. 

Turn right just beyond it along Via Stefano Polcari, past the small church of Santa Maria del Campione on the left. 

Turn left at the end along Corso Cavour. 

• Palazzo Petrucci  is on the right (at number 145-51),

• Palazzo Alberi is next to it (at number 129 -45) and

• Teatro Comunale is opposite (at number 122).
  

Palazzo Petrucci (1516-20) The Sienese Girolamo Petrucci commissioned this palace from Michele Sanmicheli in 1516, and the façade was built in the 1520s.  It was one of the first commissions in the 16th century revitalisation of the urban fabric of Orvieto.  (Petrucci’s funerary chapel, which is also by Michele Sanmicheli, is in San Domenico).

Palazzo Alberi (late 15th century) Archdeacon Antonio Alberi commissioned the adaptation of a 13th century palace here.  Bifore windows of this earlier palace survive on the top floor.  The palace was occasionally used as a residence of the papal governor.

Teatro Comunale (1841-66) Giovanni Santini built the original theatre in 1841 as a private commission.  However, the Town Council took over the project and commissioned Virginio Vespignani to redesign it in the mid-19th century.  The theatre curtain depicts the first documented event in Orvieto’s history, Belisarius freeing the city from the Goths.  In 1922, the theatre became known as Teatro Mancinelli after the composer Luigi Mancinelli (died 1921), a composer who was born in Orvieto.

Piazza Fracassini opens up from Corso Cavour, on the right, followed by Via San Leonard.  The ancient church of San Leonardo stood between them until it was demolished in 1802.  Via San Leonardo was the site of an Etruscan temple (ca. 400 BC).  Finds from the site exhibited in the Museo Archeologico include a hollow terracotta head of a bearded man (probably Tinia).

San Leonardo (13th century) This church was re-modeled in the 17th century and its facade was rebuilt in 1685.  It was demolished in 1802.

Palazzo Aureli-Missini is on the left in Piazza Fracassini (at number 117-25 Corso Cavour) and  Palazzo Febei is opposite (at number 98 - 104 Corso Cavour).

Palazzo Aureli-Missini (1786) Giuseppe Ridolfi designed this palace, which incorporates a medieval tower.

Palazzo Febei (1660-70) This palace, which belonged to the Febei family, was designed by Giovanni Tommaso Ripoli.  [It now houses the Banco di Roma at number 100 ??] [The inscription on the architrave of the portal, “BIBLIOTECA PUBBLICA” refers to the fact that Cardinal Francesco Maria Febei made his library here available to the public.  (He seems to have intended to donate the palace to the city, but subsequently changed his mind).] Cardinal Febei also founded the Accademia dei Risvegliati (Academy of the Awakened) here in 1673.  However, it foundered after his death in 1680 and was reformed in the early 18th century in Palazzo dei Signori Sette.

Continue along Corso Cavour  to the junction with Via della Costituente.  This was the most important junction in the city, since it marked the intersection of the roads leading to:

• Palazzo Vescovile and the Duomo (to the left);

• Palazzo del Popolo to the right; and

• Palazzo del Comune (ahead).
  

It is the site of the third public palace of Orvieto, the Palazzo dei Sette, which incorporates what was the Torre Civico (now known as Torre del Moro). 

The inscription on the corner of Via della Costituente quotes from Dante's Divine Comedy (Canto VI, 106-7),

Come and behold Montecchi and Cappelletti Monaldi and Fillippeschi careless man! Those sad already and those doubt-depressed!

which translates:

Thus the Monaldeschi and Filippeschi of Orvieto, like the Montecchi and Capuleti of Verona, suffer in Purgatory and provide a warning to the cruel.

Turn right into Via della Costituente, which runs along the side of Palazzo dei Sette, and into the Piazza del Popolo, where the walk ends.