Orvieto and the Duomo
come di tante gemme una non resta sul tuo crine ancora ?
(Giovanni Cozza - Ad Orvieto - Canzone)
Perched over a tuff rock plateau, the city of Orvieto with its Duomo rising above the surrounding roofs, appears suspended in time: the modern city is in fact in the valley below this natural fortress.
The earliest documented use of the name Orvieto dates back to the 6th century AD.
A Hellenicised version of the name appears in the accounts of the Gothic Wars by Procopius of Caesarea: Ourbibenton; and in a Latinised version in the letters of St Gregory the Great, who mentions the city of Urbevetere. The account of the history of the Longobards by Paolo Diacono mention Urbs Vetus, and in a 7th century itinerary there is a mention of Urbevetus or Orbevetus. The name of Orvieto therefore means old city.
Originally an Etruscan city, Orvieto fell under the dominion of Rome. With the collapse of the Western Empire the city was ravaged between the 5th and 6th century AD and fell first into the hands of the Goths before being liberated by Belisarius in 538. With the creation of the Duchy of Spoleto, Orvieto came under Londobard rule and eventually proclaimed itself a free city in the 11th century.
In 1354 Cardinal Albornoz occupied Orvieto and included it as part of the Papal States, under the Church. A short spell as “capital of the lands of Orvieto” came with the invasion of Napoleon, before returning under Papal rule in 1816 with the Restoration. In 1860 this entire area was annexed into the newly formed Kingdom of Italy.
The priceless art treasures of Orvieto today attract tourists from all over the world.
The DUOMO of Orvieto
The magnificent Duomo of Orvieto encapsulates seven centuries of history and is considered a masterpiece of central Italain gothic architecture.
Here is a short history of the most important moments during its construction:
- Initial phase estimated at around 1284, with the earliest documents referring to the construction of the Duomo. 1330 – death of Lorenzo Maitani. – was the day the foundation stone was laid. On November 13th 1290, the feast day of St Brizio, Pope Nicolò IV and his court entered the dig for the foundations of the church.
- 1310 Lorenzo Maitani takes over supervision of the works. After 18 years the church was complete up to the roof level, with the exception of the square apse and the two chapels at either end of the transept. Maitani marked the arrival of the gothic style and hence the Duomo has been associated with him ever since
- The side chapels and the sacristy were erected after Maitani’s death. To the left there is the Corporale chapel (1350). To the right, the Cappella Nuova was the last section of the structure to be completed (1409).
- Construction of the façade continued under the supervision of Andrea Pisano, Andrea Orcagna, Michele Sanmicheli and Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, who terminated the central section in 1532. The spires were erected in 1607 by Ippolito Scalza, three centuries after the laying of the foundation stone.
The façade of the Duomo of Orvieto is an extraordinary fusion of a number of different mediums, from sculpture to mosaic and painting.
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The Management
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