The Piazza del Sacrario is a square in Viterbo. It was laid only in the last century. The Urcionio river flows through a wide tube under the square. The official name is Piazza dei Caduti.
Piazza del Sacrario Viterbo
Until the 1930s, the Via Cairoli ended at the Ponte Tremoli, a wooden bridge over the Urcionio that was so named because it vibrated when people crossed it with carts.
In those days, the neither the Piazza del Sacraro nor the Via Marconi had been constructed yet. Beyond the bridge, there was nothing but countryside
After 1930, the Urcionio was covered and now flows through a kind of hallway underneath the square. During the World War II, this hallway was divided into two parts. The upper half was used as a shelter during bombardments. This shelter still exists, but the entrances are closed, so it cannot be visited.
While the stream was being covered, the square was created. It ended where the present entrance to the car park is located. What was left of the houses that were destroyed during the war was dumped here, and later people continued to bring in large quantities of waste.
The Santa Maria della Peste Church (“Saint Mary of the Plague”) was turned into a monument to soldiers killed during the war.