Palazzo dei Papi di Viterbo

Popes resident in Viterbo

Gregory X, pope from 1271 to 1276 (Gregory X remained in Viterbo little more than a month, between February and March 1272);

Innocent V, pope from 21 January to 22 June 1276 (stayed at Viterbo for two weeks, just after his election, and there he met Charles of Anjou);

Adrian V, pope from 11 July 1276 to 18 August 1276 (spent almost the whole of his short pontificate in the convent next to the church of San Francesco alla Rocca);

John XXI, pope from 15 September 1276 to 20 May 1277 (resided almost always at Viterbo);

Nicholas III, pope from 1277 to 1280 (divided his residence between Viterbo, Rome and Soriano nel Cimino);

Martin IV, elected on 22 February 1281 (abandoned Viterbo immediately after his election).

Martin IV, born Simon de Brion, was the last pope of the “Viterbo period”. He was elected after a turbulent conclave which lasted six months. The civic head of the city, Annibaldo Annibaldi, a supporter of the Angevin faction, had interfered in the conclave, preventing the Cardinal Protodeacon, Matteo Rubeo Orsini, from taking part and entering the conclave by force of arms to arrest two cardinals. As a result, Martin IV was to issue a decree which ordered the abandonment of Viterbo as a papal residence. From then onwards Viterbo was never again a long-term papal residence. Moreover, given the hostility of the Roman populace to a French pope, Martin chose to be crowned in Orvieto.