City Hall of Priors palace - Palazzo dei Priori houses the seat of the municipality of Viterbo and was built starting from 1264 on what was once the land belonging to the nearby Church of Sant’Angelo Spatha.
Its current style is the result of a Renaissance refurbishment of the mid-fifteenth century in which the building was raised by one floor and connected to the nearby Palazzo del Podestà. Today in this link is the Viterbo Picture Gallery. In this period the palace was to house the Governor of the Patrimony of San Pietro.
The current facade is characterized by a long portico of round arches placed in front of the building. In correspondence with the arches (but not symmetrically) there are two rows of openings, larger on the representation floor with the shape of the 'Guelph cross' and smaller arched on the floor above the servants. In the middle of the facade stands the coat of arms of Pope Sixtus IV Della Rovere (1481) who financed the works.
From the windows of Palazzo dei Priori you can enjoy a perfect view of the passage of the Machine of Santa Rosa on 3 September and for this reason some stands are set up in the square while one of the windows is dedicated only to the most illustrious guests.
From a door under the Renaissance portico, you enter the internal courtyard of the building and the garden that goes towards Porta Faul. On the terrace overlooking the valley there is an elegant fountain from 1626 while a staircase leads to the first floor.
The entire first floor is occupied by 4 frescoed halls: one dedicated to the miracles of the Madonna della Quercia, one called Sala Erculea frescoed by Baldassarre Croce with images of Tuscia, one that houses the City Council and the last room, called the flags, frescoed with the landscapes of Tuscia.
The council hall has all the benches in which the people who govern the city have sat for centuries and was frescoed in 1558 by the master Theodore. The images represent mythological scenes in which he tells the story of Viterbo and the coats of arms of popes Borghese and Chigi who were resident in Viterbo.
According to a legend, Viterbo was born from the union of 4 castles founded by Noah.
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