The golden façade and the Chapel of San Brizio
On top of a huge block of volcanic tuff with vertical walls, rising above the green valley of the Paglia river, Orvieto is one of the most spectacular towns in Italy, a natural fortress that was an important Etruscan city and in the Middle Ages a powerful free commune and a residence of popes. From the station below, a funicular climbs to the top of the cliff in a few minutes, and from there a walk through the medieval streets leads to one of the most extraordinary sights of Italian art: the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, whose façade suddenly appears at the end of a narrow street.
The cathedral was begun in 1290 to house the relic of the Miracle of Bolsena, a linen cloth stained with blood that, according to tradition, flowed from a host in 1263 before a doubting priest. Its façade, designed by the Sienese architect Lorenzo Maitani, is a masterpiece of Italian Gothic: a triptych of spires, pinnacles and a large rose window, entirely covered with shining gold mosaics, coloured marble and, at the bottom, splendid bas-reliefs with scenes from Genesis to the Last Judgement. The sides of the church are striped in black and white. Inside, the Chapel of San Brizio preserves one of the masterpieces of Renaissance painting: the frescoes of the End of the World and the Last Judgement, begun by Beato Angelico in 1447 and painted between 1499 and 1504 by Luca Signorelli, with powerful, dramatic nudes, the Antichrist, the resurrection of the flesh and the damned, which inspired Michelangelo for the Sistine Chapel. The Chapel of the Corporal preserves the relic of the miracle.
Tip: the ticket for the Chapel of San Brizio is purchased at the entrance; see the façade at sunset, when the gold lights up.
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