Montalcino Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Montalcino, Concattedrale di San Salvatore) is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

Montalcino Montalcino is a hill town and ''comune'' in the province of Siena, Tuscany, central Italy. The town is located to the west of Pienza, close to the Crete Senesi in Val d'Orcia. It is from Siena, from Florence and from Pisa. Monte Amiata is loc ...

in the

province of Siena The province of Siena ( it, provincia di Siena, link=no, ) is a province in Tuscany, Italy. Its capital is the city of Siena. Geography The province is divided into seven historical areas: * Alta Val d'Elsa * Chianti senese * The urban area o ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Formerly the seat of the bishops of Montalcino, since 1986 it has been a co-cathedral in the

Archdiocese of Siena-Colle di Val d'Elsa-Montalcino In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

. It is dedicated to the

Holy Saviour Two names and a variety of titles are used to refer to Jesus in the New Testament. In Christianity, the two names Jesus and Emmanuel that refer to Jesus in the New Testament have salvific attributes.''Bible explorer's guide'' by John Phillips 200 ...

(San Salvatore). Duomo di montalcino 03

History

The church that was to become the cathedral was constructed in the 14th century on the site of the ancient

pieve In the Middle Ages, a pieve (, ; la, plebe, link=no; plural ''pievi'') was a rural church with a baptistery, upon which other churches without baptisteries depended. The Italian word ''pieve'' is descended from Latin ''plebs'' which, after th ...

of San Salvatore, believed to have been built around the year 1000, and was elevated to the status of cathedral in 1462 by

Pope Pius II Pope Pius II ( la, Pius PP. II, it, Pio II), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini ( la, Aeneas Silvius Bartholomeus, links=no; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August ...

. It was demolished and rebuilt between 1818 and 1832 in the Neo-Classical style to plans by the

Sienese Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

architect

Agostino Fantastici Agostino Fantastici (1782 – 1845) was an Italian scenic designer and architect, mainly active in Siena, Italy. He also wrote books of poetry. Biography He was born in Montalcino, but his father Bernardino was a teacher of arithmetic and pers ...

. The architecture is characterized by a

pronaos A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

, or porch, consisting of six

Ionic column The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...

s and entablature. Three portals in the east front indicate the division of the building into three naves, which have

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

s. The bell tower dates from the eighteenth century. The materials for its construction were taken from the Romanesque church of San Pietro in Asso. The high altar is made from a number of different materials. Fantastici's design for it from 1828 survives, from which it appears that it was somewhat simplified in its execution.

Works of art

Among the notable works of art in the cathedral is the painting ''Immaculate Conception with Jesus and God the Father'' by a young

Francesco Vanni Francesco Vanni (1563 – 26 October 1610) was an Italian painter, draughtsman, printmaker, publisher and printer active in Rome and his native city of Siena.

of Siena, showing a strong link to the painting of the same subject by

Federico Barocci Federico Barocci (also written ''Barozzi'')(c. 1535 in Urbino – 1612 in Urbino) was an Italian Renaissance painter and printmaker. His original name was Federico Fiori, and he was nicknamed Il Baroccio. His work was highly esteemed and inf ...

. On the front altar, is a painting of

Saint John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

in the desert, another early work by Francesco Vanni. On the altar in the Chapel of Suffering is a painting of the Sienese school of the last quarter of the 16th century, derived from

Beccafumi Domenico di Pace Beccafumi (1486May 18, 1551) was an Italian Renaissance-Mannerist painter active predominantly in Siena. He is considered one of the last undiluted representatives of the Sienese school of painting. Biography Domenico was born ...

, of

Saint Michael the Archangel Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), a ...

driving the rebellious angels from

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...

. In the first chapel of the northern nave some fragments have been reassembled of a

travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a pro ...

sculpture depicting Christ in a

mandorla A mandorla is an almond-shaped aureola, i.e. a frame that surrounds the totality of an iconographic figure. It is usually synonymous with '' vesica'', a lens shape. Mandorlas often surround the figures of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary in trad ...

almond between two angels with

thurible A thurible (via Old French from Medieval Latin ) is a metal censer suspended from chains, in which incense is burned during worship services. It is used in Christian churches including the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Assyrian Church of th ...

s, from the second half of the 11th century, which originally formed part of the portal of the ancient

which survived until 1817, when it was demolished. On the back wall of the

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually located ...

is a painting of 1647 by

Francesco Nasini Francesco Nasini (Piancastagnaio, either 1611 or 1621– Castel del Piano, 1695) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in towns outside of Siena, Italy. Francesco was the progenitor of a pedigree of painters. He had a brother ...

of ''The

Assumption of the Virgin The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic_Mariology#Dogmatic_teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and d ...

with angels and with Saints Hippolytus and

Cyprian Cyprian (; la, Thaschus Caecilius Cyprianus; 210 – 14 September 258 AD''The Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman Rite: Vol. IV.'' New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1975. p. 1406.) was a bishop of Carthage and an early Chri ...

'' which was commissioned by Ippolito Senesi for an altar of Saints Hippolytus and

Anthony Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the ''Antonia (gens), Antonii'', a ''gens'' (Roman naming conventions, Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were ...

, since demolished.

Bibliography

* Santi, Bruno (ed.), 1999: ''L'Amiata e la Val d'Orcia'', in the series "I Luoghi della Fede", Milano, Mondadori, 1999, pp. 59 – 60.

External links

Tourism in Montalcino
{{coord, 43, 03, 32, N, 11, 29, 16, E, type:landmark_source:kolossus-itwiki, display=title Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy Cathedrals in Tuscany Roman Catholic churches in Montalcino Neoclassical architecture in Tuscany Roman Catholic churches completed in 1832 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Neoclassical church buildings in Italy