Cattedrale di San Lorenzo

Tivoli Cathedral of San Lorenzo stands above the ancient Roman forum. Rebuilt in the seventeenth century, it retains its Romanesque bell tower and medieval works including a carved wooden Deposition and a gold-ground triptych of Christ the Saviour.

Why it matters

San Lorenzo is the cathedral of Tivoli and the seat of its bishop. The church is documented by the sixth century and stands above the Roman forum, traces of which survive behind the apse. The Liber Pontificalis, in its account of Pope Leo III around 800, also mentions a church on this site.

What to notice

In the chapel beneath the organ loft stands the wooden Deposizione, dated to the 1220s or 1230s and attributed to a workshop conventionally called the atelier of Tivoli. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus lift Christ from the cross as Mary and John reach toward him; an angel crowns him. Several figures have articulated forearms, allowing ceremonial vestments to be fitted to the sculptures.

The Trittico del Salvatore depicts Christ as Salvator Mundi. The medieval triptych is generally dated to the eleventh or twelfth century. Other works include Bishop Angelo Leonini's Renaissance tomb and the Immacolata chapel, with a marble statue by Pierre Puget and frescoes by Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi. The Romanesque bell tower rises about 47 metres above the square.

Context and history

The parish history describes the Roman forum's civil basilica, built in the second century BC, as the meeting place of the Christian community after 313. An eleventh- or twelfth-century Romanesque basilica later stood here; only its bell tower remains above Piazza del Duomo. In the seventeenth century Cardinal Giulio Roma replaced the medieval church with the present single-nave hall and side chapels. The rebuilding and its portico belong to the seventeenth-century transformation of the cathedral. Carlo Labruzzi and his circle painted the nave and apse between 1814 and 1817, with support from Pope Pius VII. Pietro Labruzzi painted the altarpiece of San Lorenzo on the gridiron. Bernini designed the Canons' sacristy in 1657.