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The San Pellegrino Quarter in Viterbo: a Stroll Through the 13th Century Among External Staircases and Bridge Houses
The San Pellegrino Quarter is the medieval heart of Viterbo, one of the most extensive and best-preserved 13th-century districts in the whole of Europe. Entering the area from Piazza San Carluccio one walks along lanes of peperino and basalt — the grey volcanic stones of Tuscia — which have kept their 12th-13th-century appearance practically intact. No Renaissance or Baroque additions: here the Middle Ages have stayed where they were.
External Staircases, Inner Courtyards, Bridge Houses
Three words one learns immediately in Viterbo. A profferlo is the external stone staircase that rises from the façade to the first floor — where people lived — while the ground floor was a workshop. A richiastro is the internal courtyard onto which several houses face, a sort of medieval condominium. Case a ponte are bridge houses, suspended constructions connecting two buildings on opposite sides of the street, creating arches beneath which one walks. They are all built in blocks of volcanic stone, with no rendering. The effect is a continuous play of shadows, arches and staircases.
Piazza San Pellegrino
The main street emerges into the central square, the heart of the district. The Church of San Pellegrino (St Peregrine), documented from 1045 as being under the control of the Abbey of Farfa, was restored in Neo-Gothic style in 1889, and rebuilt after the bombing of 1944. Beside it stands Palazzo degli Alessandri, saved in 1252 by a bull of Pope Innocent IV forbidding its demolition.
