Cathedral of Orvieto

The Duomo of Orvieto is definitely one of the most significant works of the Italian Gothic art, which differentiated from the European one because of the very personal elaborations of the Italian artists, due to both the special cultural sensitivity and the historical contest: the so-called 'Age of the Communes'.

He triptych façade shines brightly thanks to the polychrome marbles, sculptures and mosaics. Have a look at the mid-portal and central rose window, made by Andrea Orcagna (XIV century).

The interior shows a Romanesque central nave and two side aisles. Transept (the transversal nave, intersects the longitudinal ones, creating a cross plant) and presbytery (the side of the church reserved to the priests, around the high alter), have Gothic shapes.

Compared to other European cathedrals, the Duomo of Orvieto is less linear and the material used to make it was extremely variegated.

The Cathedral of Orvieto is famous also for its Giudizio Universale frescoes by Luca Signorelli. The works were started by the Beato Angelico with the help of Benozzo Bozzoli. Unlike the rest of Europe, the Italian Gothic builders use to leave whole blank walls in order to allow the most famous painters of the time to fresco the Churcs and Cathedrals. This meant a kind of flourishing art market and gave the artists to elaborate their own art trends and techniques that were imitated and disputed by the big committees, such as Abbeys and Communes. New are the way to represent the nature, the human being and the colours used.

The master Emilio Greco donated to Orvieto a very important collection of 32 bronze sculptures and 60 graphic oeuvres among lithographies, etchings and drawings, nowadays homed into the fourteenth-century Palazzo Soliano, beside the Cathedral. One of his best works of art is the sculpture of the bronze portals of the Cathedral.

The Cathedral is open:

• 1st November - 28th February: 7.30 - 12.45; 14.30-17.15
• March and October: 7.30-12.45; 14.30-18.15
• 1st April - 30th September: 7.30-12.45; 14.30-19.15