Basilica di San Francesco alla Rocca

The Franciscan Basilica of San Francesco alla Rocca in Viterbo contains the marble tombs of two medieval popes, Clement IV and Adrian V. Rebuilt after wartime bombing, its austere stone architecture frames funerary sculpture associated with Arnolfo di Cambio and Pietro di Oderisio.

Why it matters

Clement IV and Adrian V, both popes of the thirteenth century, were buried in this Franciscan church. The Ministry of Culture attributes Adrian V's richly decorated tomb to Arnolfo di Cambio; Clement IV's monument is attributed to Pietro di Oderisio. The church was begun in 1237 by the Franciscan friars and drew on the basilica of Assisi on a smaller scale. In 1949, Pius XII elevated it to a minor basilica.

What to notice

The Romanesque portal is framed by twisted columns. Above the façade's three single-light windows and oculus are the insignia of Pius XII. A hexagonal pulpit dated 1428 commemorates Saint Bernardine of Siena's preaching in Viterbo; the adjacent bell gable shelters a bell cast in 1259. Adrian V's tomb carries dense Cosmatesque marble mosaic. The monument to Clement IV stands on the left branch of the Latin-cross plan. A reproduction of Sebastiano del Piombo's Pietà occupies the site of the seventeenth-century Botonti altar; the original is now in the Museo dei Portici.

Context and history

According to the municipality, the friars acquired the ground through a donation from Gregory IX, and construction began in 1237. The church's early centuries coincided with Viterbo's role as a papal residence, explaining why two popes who died there were buried in a Franciscan church. The interior accumulated Baroque decoration in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Allied bombing in 1944 severely damaged the basilica. Postwar reconstruction removed the Baroque additions and returned the building toward its earlier form. The church reopened in 1953, four years after Pius XII raised it to minor basilica status.