VITTORIO EMANUELE II SQUARE

DESCRIPTION

Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II is the fulcrum of the city life of Soriano; from here several roads branch off that lead both to the village and to the outskirts of the town. The building of greatest historical and artistic interest is the Cathedral, which stands on the right side of the square, with respect to the Rione Rocca; dedicated to St. Nicholas of Bari, it was built in neoclassical style at the end of the eighteenth century on a project by Giulio Camporese, replacing the parish church of Sant’Eutizio which, due to its modest size, was insufficient to accommodate the number of faithful. At the time of its construction, two pre-existing religious buildings were demolished and ground leveling works carried out. The brick facade, decorated with pilasters, is characterized by two orders: Doric in the lower part and Ionic in the upper part. The three portals in peperino are surmounted by a cornice that runs along the façade of the building, in the center of which there is a large window surmounted by a tympanum. On the sides there are two bell towers, between which an iron cross stands.
At the end of the square stands Porta del Ponte, the main access to the historic center. In medieval times the gate was surrounded by a moat and equipped with a drawbridge; in the eighteenth century modifications were made to further embellish the building; destroyed due to the 1944 aerial bombardment, it was rebuilt maintaining the previous forms: the current layout shows the appearance of the one built in 1903 on a project by Angelo Santocchi. At the entrance to the bridge there are two marble statues: on the right side is the figure of Saint Eutizio, on the left the Virgin with Child. The sculptures, dating back to the eighteenth century, rest on two cylindrical Roman areas, also in marble, decorated with floral festoons in relief, placed here on the occasion of the inauguration of the city cathedral.
The arch, made up of ashlar blocks of peperino, is surmounted by the coat of arms of the Albani house and by a plaque commemorating the episode of the bombing, on which we read: “This ancient city gate, already enlarged and embellished in 1737 by initiative of the Sorianese Community, later destroyed in the air raid of 5.6.1944, it was rebuilt by the State in 1949 ”. At the foot of the access bridge to the village of Soriano, there is a modern fountain, built in 1996 at the behest of the Municipal Administration, as the plaque affixed to the building recalls. A series of steps lead to the source, decorated with flower beds placed in peperino basins enclosed by a semi-circular external wall.

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

D’ARCANGELI V., Monumenti archeologici e artistici del territorio di Soriano nel Cimino e delle zone limitrofe, Soriano nel Cimino (Vt) 1967.
D’ARCANGELI V., Soriano nel Cimino nella storia e nell’arte, Viterbo 1981.
Soriano nel Cimino, a cura di Carivit S.p.a., autori D’ARCANGELI V., SANTOCCHI A., Viterbo 1993.
Soriano Turistica, a cura dell’Associazione “Pro-Soriano”, Soriano nel Cimino (Vt) 1970.