On Orvieto’s Piazza Repubblica – and there’s one in every Italian town, commemorating the birth of Italy, “the new republic” in 1860 – the dodecagonal belltower of the church of Sant Andrea towers above the church and the adjacent palazzo comunale (city hall). The church – called simply “Sant’Andrea” by the orvietani – is actually dedicated to…
Even “freddo polare” (“polar cold” – which for Italy means anything below freezing temperature) – never deters jazz appassionati from heading to Orvieto at the end of December for Umbria Jazz Winter. We’re always there, too, celebrating our December 30th wedding anniversary. But not this year: COVID has voided Umbria Jazz Winter for December, 2020. Medieval Orvieto…
Constructed in white travertine and black balsamic rock – for Orvieto was built on a volcanic plateau – the glorious Duomo (cathedral) dominates this Umbrian medieval hill town: And the splendor of the Cathedral is not simply on the exterior, as you’ll realize upon entry: Just to the left of the main altar, the Cappella del…
My next ZOOM presentation – December 5th – will take us to Orvieto… – and these blog notes prior are a preview of the wonders we’ll discover together. In medieval frescoes, artists did not generally sign the works, nor slip themselves into the works as self-portraits, although artists have always left some sort of a…
Both towns of Etruscan origins, the Latium lakeside town, Bolensa (Volsinii for the Etruscans) and the Umbrian medieval gem, Orvieto (the Etruscan Velzna), share another link: a sacred one. The Sacro Corporale (“Holy Corporal”) – now housed in the Orvieto Duomo (Cathedral) – was brought to Orvieto in great triumph in 1263 from Bolsena, medieval town on Lake Bolsena. A pious Bohemian…
After taking in the wonders of Pinturicchio in Spello’s Santa Maria Maggiore church, do stop in at the Pinacoteca (Civic Picture Gallery) next door to see a treasured missing shrine, once in Santa Maria Maggiore, and with a link to Pinturicchio. The pieces of the early 15th-c triptych attributed to Maestro dell’Assunta d’Amelia and stolen in…
Entering the 12th c.- church of San Lorenzo Martire in Spello, your attention is drawn immediately to the golden baldacchino dominating the altar: The 17th-c. Spello baldacchino copies the splendid Bernini bronze baldacchino of the same period towering over the main altar of St. Peter’s: Less than ten years after the Bernini baldacchino, artisans in Spello had created the…
Once a sacred site, always a sacred site. Or often, in any case, here in Italy. Spello’s Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Spello is an example, testament the Roman columns to the left of the entry at the base of the bell tower. The marble columns certainly came from an important Roman building, though…
The 13th-c Sant’Andrea church in Spello has direct links to St. Francis in Assisi and the Franciscans. First historical reference to the church dedicated to the apostle, St. Andrew, dates to the early 11th century and in the 13th century, the church – under the rule of the Bishop of Spoleto – was conceded to…
Keep your eyes open as you walk through Spello so as to take in the hints of the splendor of the Roman colony, Hispellum – and they’re even in the churches. In Santa Maria Maggiore, the holy water font at the entryway is a splendid marble Roman funerary monument: As you exit the church, look to your…