Orvieto

Rising up on top of a steep tufa plateau 350 m. above sea level in the center of Italy, Orvieto is a majestic fascinating city. A rich and enthralling history ranging from the Etruscans to our times has left its mark in the city, not much more than a kilometer long and eight hundred meters wide. Traces of past epochs can easily be discerned in the palimpsest of styles and buildings, from the Etruscan tunnels and temples to the medieval palaces, from the imposing Cathedral to the tall Torre del Moro. In recent years judicious restoration works have salvaged important buildings now used for conventions and important events: Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo, the “L. Mancinelli” theater, Palazzo dei Sette, the Cloister of S. Giovanni. Orvieto belongs to the “Cittaslow” association, an organization that brings together many cities under the aegis of “slow” living, characterized by a town plan on a human scale, a rich civic and cultural fabric, a will to safeguard the wine and food traditions. Resting on its tufa and basalt platform, Orvieto tells us an ancient and evocative story. Inhabited as early as the Bronze and Iron Ages, it subsequently became an important Etruscan city. At that time its name was Velzna (although some call it Volsinii Veteres). A famous Etruscan sanctuary, the Fanum Voltumnae, was located nearby. This was where the inhabitants of Etruria gathered every year for religious rites, games and political events. The splendor of the Etruscan period (to which extraordinary tombs and works of art in the city museums bear witness) reached its peak between the sixth and fourth century BC, followed by a period of decline and exile. In 164 BC the Romans annihilated the city and forced its inhabitants to flee to what is now Bolsena (known as Volsinii Novi). The glorious Etruscan city lay in ruins and for several centuries history forgot about Orvieto. After the barbarian invasions (by the Goths and Lombards) the city once more occupied a strategically important place for it was on the boundary with Byzantine Italy. The present town plan dates to the Middle Ages when palaces, towers and churches were built. In 1175 Pope Hadrian IV recognized the autonomy of the city and Orvieto became a free Commune. Often at war with Siena, Viterbo, Todi and Perugia, around 1300 Orvieto achieved its maximum power and succeeded in taking possession of Orbetello and Talamone on the Tyrrhenian Sea. Construction work on the Cathedral began in 1290. Between the thirteenth and fourteenth century the population was greater than even Rome: 30,000 inhabitants. The power of the free Commune was however sapped by an intestine war between the Guelph (Monaldeschi) and the Ghibelline (Filippeschi) factions. Conflicts weakened the political and military power and when Cardinal Egidio Albornoz took over the city in 1364, there was very little resistance. Subsequently Orvieto fell subject to various signorie and returned under the dominion of the papacy in 1450, to become one of the most important provinces, favored by popes and cardinals. Nothing outstanding happened during the seventeenth-eighteenth centuries. After being elevated to seat of the Apostolic Delegation (1831), in 1860 Orvieto was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy. According to a tradition (now reassessed) the Cathedral was built to hold the relic of the Corporal, the sacred altar cloth stained with drops of blood that fell from the host when a Bohemian priest who questioned the doctrine of Transubstantiation stopped to say mass in the neighboring town of Bolsena. Work was begun under the pontificate of Nicholas IV in 1290. The first builder of whom we have any information is Fra Bevignate who built the nave and side aisles up to the crossing. Under Giovanni Uguccione the crossing and the apse were finished. In 1305 the architect Lorenzo Maitani reinforced the transept with four flying buttresses and with two apses, and thereafter took over the direction of the workyard, designing and modifying the facade with three gables and continuing the roof. There are ten chapels with half-dome vaulting along the walls of the aisles. The floor of the Cathedral is in red marble from Prodo (near Orvieto), and was begun in 1347 and finished between 1382 and 1388. On the left wall, facing the baptismal font, is the stupendous Maestà by Gentile da Fabriano (1425). The nave ends in a marvelous Gothic stained-glass window, 16.30 meters high and 4.55 meters wide. The stained glass with its forty-eight panels depicting stories of Mary and of Christ, figures of Saints, Doctors of the Church and Evangelists was begun by Giovanni Bonino of Assisi (1325) and then finished by Nicola di Nuti in 1334. The apse walls are covered with frescoes of the Orvieto school by Ugolino del Prete Ilario and Pietro di Puccio dating to between 1370 and 1380. They were restored in 1491 by Giacomo di Bologna and later by Pinturicchio and Antonio da Viterbo known as Pastura. The frescoes, in part lost, depict the Virgin in Glory in the vault and the Life of the Virgin on the walls. An imposing staircase in travertine with a dark red marble balustrade, by Ippolito Scalza, separates the apse from the transept. The fine monumental organ over the entrance to the Chapel of the corporal, later painted by Cesare Nebbia, and the statue to the right of the balustrade of Ecce Homo of 1608 were Scalza’s last work. The three portals on the facade are impressive. The side portals have gothic arches, while the one in the center has round arches. The stupendous decoration of the embrasures consists of series of alternating columns with decorative mosaics. In 1970 bronze doors by Emilio Greco replaced the old wooden ones. The six panels of the center door depict the seven works of Mercy. The Chapel of the SS. Corporal The Chapel of the SS. Corporal was built around 1350to house the relics of the miracle of Bolsena, at the time when Andrea Pisano was capomastro or master-builder. It is at the end of the north transept and. like Signorelli’s chapel, is set into the space between Maitani’s flying buttress. Since these arches are not perfectly parallel to each other, the walls had to be built on a trapezoidal plan. The chapel is almost entirely frescoed and in style was unquestionably influenced by the school of Siena. Various painters decorated the walls and vaults (Ugolino di Prete Ilario, Domenico di Meo, friar Giovanni di Buccio Leonardelli and others between 1357 and 1363). The frescoes on the right depict the Miracle of Bolsena. On the back wall is a Crucifixion with Deposition and the Resurrection of Christ. Events from the Old and New Testaments are painted in the vault, while there is a Last Supper over the entrance arch. Inside the chapel is the Reliquary in which the Corporal was once kept, a stupendous example of medieval goldwork. The Chapel of San Brizio The Chapel of San Brizio was built between 1408 and 1444 after a resolution by the Superintendents of the Opera del Duomo. It is at the end of the right transept, replacing the old sacristy, and corresponds to the Chapel of the Corporal across the way. The pictorial decoration of the Chapel of San Brizio, which lasted from 1447 to 1503/4, was initially entrusted to Fra Angelico. He designed four sections of the vault but painted only two together with assistants (Benozzo Gozzoli and Pietro di Nicola Baroni), also decorating the ribs with floral and plant motives and the bands at the sides with portraits in medallions. After Fra Angelico was recalled to the Vatican, work came to a standstill for around 50 years. After lengthy negotiations with various artists, including Perugino, in the spring of 1499 the Superintendents stipulated a contract with Luca Signorelli. After finishing the part begun by Fra Angelico and painting the sections of the other vault, the painter from Cortona was entrusted with the walls themselves. The wall cycle includes: The Rule of the Antichrist, The Signs of the End of the World, The Resurrection of the Flesh; Hell, Antinferno, The Ascent of the Elect, Paradise. These seven frescoes in the lunettes, painted between 1400 and 1502, represent the zenith of Signorelli’s art.