The Duomo di Viterbo, officially named the Cathedral of San Lorenzo is the main Roman Catholic church of the city of Viterbo in the Province of Viterbo in the northern part of the Italian state of Lazio. The church is an imposing Romanesque structure situated high on the hill which the city climbs, but it lacks much of the spectacular decoration with which it was originally adorned, thanks to an ill-advised sixteenth century reconstruction

The cathedral was, according to legend, built on the site of an Etruscan temple to Hercules and although this can not be verified, Etruscan and Roman foundations can be seen on several of the buildings which make up the Plaza di San Lorenzo where the duomo is situated. An early medieval parish church to Saint Lawrence had formerly occupied the area before construction began on the cathedral in the late twelfth century. Even as the duomo was constructed, the town was already spreading northwards down the hill, leaving the plaza somewhat isolated on the highest edges of town, thus restricting it’s attraction to the townsfolk, a disadvantage which the local bishops for years attempted to reverse by granting the cathedral special religious privileges

The cathedral was at the height of its significance during the middle and end of the thirteenth century, when it and the attached Palazzo dei Papi di Viterbo was the home of the papal throne following its flight from Rome and prior to its resettlement in Avignon. Two popes are known to have been buried in the duomo, and others may have been during the period between 1261 and 1277.

The first of these popes was Pope Alexander IV, whose tomb was bizarrely demolished during sixteenth century renovations, and the location of his remains are now unknown save that he lies somewhere inside the church. Pope John XXI is more clearly marked despite several relocations, with a handsome tombstone originally laid over him following his death in 1277 when his study's ceiling in the papal palace attached to the cathedral suddenly collapsed into the room below due to structural weaknesses as he slept.

During the middle of the sixteenth century, the cathedral came under the power of a Cardinal Gambarra, scion of a wealthy Italian family who paid for extensive reconstruction of the medieval building, including the demolition of the façade, roof and central apse (including a Papal tomb). He also knocked holes in the walls to create extra chapels and replaced much of the internal art, wood and stone decorations as well as the stained glass windows. Prominent amongst his new decorations were depictions of seafood, especially lobsters and prawns, giving the land-bound cathedral a strangely nautical look. (His name Gambarra translates as prawn from the Italian, and seafood featured heavily on his coat of arms).

In 1861, a further bishop also replaced the ceiling, lowering it to disguise the intricate truss and beam work of Gambarra’s creation. Much of this heavy-handed work has since been removed or replaced with what remains of original furnishings, especially following the Second World War, during which the cathedral and the city in general were quite heavily damaged by Allied bombing raids and the shelling of both sides


The cathedral lacks many of the famous artworks which make its Italian contemporaries so famous, largely due to its relatively recent renovation. The main works which line the apse are post-renovation pieces by the local artist Giovanni Francesco Romanelli during the eighteenth century as well as several more by his contemporaries. Only two notable early artworks survive, a painting of Redentore benedicte (Christ giving a blessing) from 1472 thought to be the work of Gerolamo da Cremona and a Madonna with child, which appears to be an earlier version of the famous painting in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.

It has been moved here from the Viterbese parish church it was painted in during the late twelfth century, although the artist remains unknown. The cathedral also possesses an impressive baptismal font constructed initially by Francesco da Ancona in 1470 before later additions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duomo_di_Viterbo