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For 68 years the popes lived in Avignon, and Rome was left without them. Here is how they came back.
Today the Pope and Rome seem to belong together. But in the 1300s seven popes in a row lived in Avignon, in the south of France, in a palace as big as a fortress. Rome grew poor and empty, and Italians called it the Babylonian captivity.
It started with a fight between a pope and a king. Pope Boniface VIII believed the Pope stood above all kings. King Philip IV of France disagreed, and in 1303 his men attacked the old pope in his home town of Anagni. Two years later a Frenchman was elected pope, and in 1309 he settled in Avignon. The popes who followed were all French. They built the enormous Palace of the Popes and later bought the city itself. Meanwhile Rome fell apart: churches decayed, rich families fought in the streets, and a dreamer called Cola di Rienzo even tried to bring back the Roman Republic. Saints and poets begged the popes to return. In 1377 Gregory XI finally came back to Rome, but soon there were two popes, one in Rome and one in Avignon, and Europe had to choose.
Pick a colour to follow one story. Every moment shows where you can still see it.
Before Avignon, the popes often lived in Viterbo. Here the cardinals take almost three years to elect a pope, until the people lock them in, cut their food and take off the roof.
See it at: Polo Monumentale Colle del Duomo →Men sent by the king of France burst into the palace of Pope Boniface VIII in Anagni and take him prisoner. Legend says one of them slapped the old pope. He dies a month later.
See it at: Palazzo Bonifacio VIII →Clement V, a French pope, settles in Avignon on the Rhône, close to lands that belong to the Church. He never goes to Rome.
Pope Benedict XII starts the Palace of the Popes. His successor makes it even bigger: one of the largest Gothic buildings in Europe.
In a Rome without its pope, the innkeeper's son Cola di Rienzo takes power on the Capitoline Hill and dreams of a new Roman Republic. In 1354 he is killed by an angry crowd on the same hill.
See it at: Capitoline Museums →Pope Clement VI buys the city of Avignon from Queen Joanna of Naples for 80,000 gold florins.
From Avignon, the Pope sends Cardinal Albornoz to take back the lands of the Church in Italy. He builds strong castles, like the fortress in Viterbo.
See it at: National Etruscan Museum Rocca Albornoz →Catherine of Siena, a young woman from a family of dyers, travels to Avignon and tells Pope Gregory XI to his face that he belongs in Rome.
In January Gregory XI enters Rome. The long stay in France is over, at least for now.
After Gregory's death the cardinals elect an Italian pope, then change their minds and elect a French one, who goes back to Avignon. For almost forty years Europe has two, and later even three, popes.
See it at: Castel Sant'Angelo →A Venetian cardinal starts a grand palace in the heart of Rome. As Pope Paul II he lives there: Rome is the city of the popes again.
See it at: National Museum of the Palazzo di Venezia →During the French Revolution, Avignon votes to join France. After more than four centuries it no longer belongs to the popes.
The museums and places where this story comes alive.
The Palace of the Popes in Avignon, with its huge empty halls and painted rooms. It is in France, a nice trip by train from Italy.
The Palace of the Popes in Viterbo, with its beautiful loggia and the hall where the longest papal election took place.
The pope's palace in Anagni, where the famous slap happened. Then visit the cathedral next door.
On your way up, look for the statue of Cola di Rienzo near the steps, on the hill where he ruled and died.
The popes' fortress by the Tiber, fought over during the schism. From the top you see the walled passage that leads to the Vatican.
The palace that Pope Paul II built when Rome rose again, with collections of art, armour and ceramics.
The fortress Cardinal Albornoz built in Viterbo for the Avignon popes, now full of Etruscan treasures.
Seven popes, from 1309 to 1377, all French.
Catherine spoke to Gregory XI in person in 1376.
Cum clave in Latin: the cardinals were locked in.
Until the French Revolution.
