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Piazza delle Erbe in Viterbo: a square that goes by many names
Piazza delle Erbe is one of the liveliest squares in Viterbo's historic centre, just a short walk from Piazza del Plebiscito. It owes its name to the fruit and vegetable market once held here in the 18th century, but its history begins much earlier, and each era has brought forth a different name.
The five names of the square
For centuries it was called Piazza Santo Stefano, after the local church. In the 12th century it took the name of the Fajana family, who lived there. In 1496 Pope Alexander VI redesigned and renamed it Platea Nova Alessandrina. The current name came with the 18th century fruit and vegetable market, but in the 19th century there were two more changes — Piazza Vittorio Emanuele and then Piazza dei Leoni — before it returned to being Piazza delle Erbe.
The fountain and the palazzi
In the centre of the square is a fountain that has been there since 1335. The original version had an elongated, spindle-like shape. In 1621 the municipality commissioned a new design from Viterbo-born painter Filippo Caparozzi, who created a fountain with four lions carved in peperino, the local volcanic stone. On one side of the square stands the Casa della Pace (House of Peace): on the lintel of one of its windows you can still read "Concordia Civium Instaurata", dated 15 January 1503. Opposite is Palazzo Gatti, a 14th-century building that belonged to the family who dominated Viterbo politics for over a century. In the 19th century the square was also home to the Albergo degli Angeli (Angels Hotel), where the Queen of England and Ferdinand I, King of Naples, once stayed.
