Cortona Cathedral

Façade of the cathedral.

Cortona Cathedral is a cathedral in Cortona, Tuscany, central Italy,dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

History

The church was built over the remains of an ancient Roman temple and is mentioned (as a pieve, or pleban church) in the 11th century. In 1325 the diocese of Cortona was founded, but the church was not chosen as its cathedral; the annexed building was anyway used as the bishop's residence.

In 1507 Pope Julius II moved there the cathedral seat from the sub-urban church of San Vincenzo, and in the 15th century the edifice's interior was renovated.

Description

The appearance of the original medieval church is mostly hidden by later additions, such as the 18th century barrel vaulted ceiling in the nave, which was repainted in the late 19th century by the local artist Giovanni Brunacci; in the same epoch the oval windows, the triumphal arch and the pavement were also added or remade. The oldest element visible are in the Romanesque façade, consisting of a pier with capital and small columns at the corners, and part of the large arcade.

The church has a nave and two aisles, divided by columns with Brunelleschi-inspired capitals. The right side has a loggia built in the late 16th century; the bell tower dates from the middle of the same century.

Artworks in the interior include an Adoration of the Shepherds by Pietro da Cortona and assistants (c. 1663), a Consecration of the church of the Holy Saviour by Andrea Commodi (1607, brought here in the late 18th century) and a Descent of the Holy Ghost by Tommaso Bernabei (1528-1529). The town's Diocesan Museum houses works once in the cathedral, including Pietro Lorenzetti's Maestà (before 1320), and a tapestry and a reliquary from the Renaissance times.