DUOMO DI ORVIETO

Orvieto Cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, is a masterpiece of Italian Gothic, the jewel of Umbria. Its superb façade, all in lace of stone, is marked by the beautiful rose window of Andrea Orcagna, itself framed by sculpted heads representing the 52 weeks of the year. These fifty-two heads in relief border the figures of four doctors of the Church adorning the corners of the square of this rose window.

Paul Bourget evokes it when he writes: "Orvieto exists if only for this page of the missal written in marble, for this gigantic miniature, for this facade exalted by the mosaics and the panelling. "How can one not be ecstatic, indeed, before this glittering façade of gold and marble, especially when the sun shines on these marvels? The façade is decorated with mosaics with the theme of the life of the Virgin.

The construction of the cathedral began in 1290, to celebrate the miracle of Bolsena: the transubstantiation of the body and blood of Christ in the host. Four centuries of work were necessary. The Sienese architect, Lorenzo Maitani, was the master builder of the Gothic transformation of the building in 1305.

Inside there is a profusion of colours and a Romanesque structure of visible origin. The organ, with its 8,000 pipes, is the second largest in Italy after that of Monreale in Sicily. The marble baptismal font, supported by sculptures of lions, is the work of the Sienese artist Luca di Giovanni. There are also beautiful stained glass windows and numerous frescoes, including Fabriano's Madonna of the Gentile (1425). In the right transept, in the chapel of San Brizio (St. Brice), built between 1408 and 1444, there are frescoes by Fra Angelico and the very remarkable series of the Last Judgement, a masterpiece by Luca Signorelli (1499-1504). One of the most important pictorial ensembles of the Renaissance - a whirlpool of naked bodies, angels and demons, ruins, earthquakes... According to historians, these frescoes inspired Michelangelo's Last Judgement, painted in the Sistine Chapel.

In the altar, in front of the chapel of the Holy Corporal, a tabernacle guards the reliquary of the miracle containing the cloth enveloping the fragment of host from which the blood of Christ oozed out. A masterpiece by Ugolino di Vieri, this silver reliquary, dating from the 14th century, is considered the most beautiful of the Middle Ages (visible only on Easter and Corpus Domini days).

After such a discovery, be sure to get out of it all sketchy!