Piazza del Popolo

Piazza del Popolo occupies the summit of Todi’s historic centre, on the site of the Roman forum. Its level surface is supported by Roman cisterns that supplied water and helped create a public terrace on the hillside. Around the square stand the Palazzo del Popolo, Palazzo del Capitano and Palazzo dei Priori, built in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. At the opposite end is the Cathedral of Maria Santissima Annunziata, documented from the twelfth century and altered in later periods. The ensemble preserves the close relationship between civic government, religious life and public assembly in the medieval Umbrian town. Todi's civic square crowns the Umbrian hill town, closed on its sides by the cathedral and by three medieval palaces — del Capitano, del Priore, del Popolo — in an ensemble that has come down largely intact. It has been the town's meeting place for as long as Todi has had one. In summer the paving becomes a stage: Bizet's Carmen and Puccini's La bohème have both been mounted there, with the cathedral steps standing in for a set.