Orte Cathedral or the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, Orte ( it, Duomo di Orte; ''Basilica Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta''), is the main

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 ...

church of

Orte Orte is a town, ''comune'', former Catholic bishopric and Latin titular see in the province of Viterbo, in the central Italian region of Lazio, located about north of Rome and about east of Viterbo. Geography Orte is situated in the Tiber vall ...

, located in front of the Piazza della Libertà, in the

province of Viterbo Viterbo ( it, provincia di Viterbo) is a province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Viterbo. Geography Viterbo is the most northerly of the provinces of Lazio. It is bordered to the south by the Metropolitan City of Rome C ...

, region of Lazio, Italy. It is dedicated to the

Assumption of the Virgin Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by Go ...

. It was the episcopal seat of the bishops of Orte, which in 1437 was united ''

aeque principaliter ''Aeque principaliter'' ("equally important") is a Latin term used by the Roman Catholic Church to indicate a merger of two or more dioceses in which – to avoid questions of predominance – the dioceses are all given equal importance. Such a ...

'' with the

diocese of Civita Castellana The Diocese of Civita Castellana ( la, Dioecesis Civitatis Castellanae) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Latium, central Italy. It has existed in the current form since 1986, when the Diocese of Ne ...

, and merged into it in 1986; it is now a co-cathedral. It is an immemorial

minor basilica In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...

History

A church existed on the site by the 9th century. By the 18th century, despite some refurbishments, it was in need of reconstruction. In 1721, the church was reconsecrated after bring rebuilt by the architects Castrachini and Bizzacchero, maintaining the same layout, with a nave in a late-

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style. The single nave is flanked by solid rows of pilasters leading to a crossing topped by a small dome, and a semicircular apse. The white marble west front with decorative volutes was added in 1898 - 1901. The interior is notable for a main altarpiece of the ''Virgin in Glory and Holy Martyrs'' (1752) by Giuseppe Bottani. The pipe organ, recently restored by Wijwand Van der Pol, has elements from a previous organ made by Domenico Bevenuti in 1582 and Domenico Densi in 1721.Comune of Orte
entry on church

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orte Cathedral Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy Churches in the province of Viterbo Neoclassical architecture in Lazio 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Minor basilicas in Lazio Cathedrals in Lazio Neoclassical church buildings in Italy