Cattedrale di San Lorenzo

Perugia's cathedral has an unfinished facade of pink and white stone facing a side street, while its decorated flank opens onto Piazza IV Novembre. Inside, a Gothic hall church contains a choir by Giuliano da Maiano, Federico Barocci's Deposition and the relic known as the Holy Ring.

Why it matters

The cathedral rises over the Etruscan-Roman forum. Its dedication continues that of a ninth-century church on the site. In March 1300, the city's priors and civic and religious bodies commissioned a larger cathedral, designed by the Silvestrine monk Bevignate as a hall church with naves of equal height. The new plan turned the building's axis from north–south to east–west; work continued into the fifteenth century. Its orientation, stepped flank and outdoor pulpit record the long history of the building and its civic setting.

What to notice

The piazza-facing flank shows the building's different phases. The loggia was built in 1423 under Braccio Fortebraccio da Montone, the bronze statue of Julius III is by Vincenzo Danti, and the Baroque portal of 1729 is by Pietro Carattoli. A small fifteenth-century pulpit is associated with the tradition of Saint Bernardino's preaching campaigns of 1425–1427. Nearby, a wooden crucifix by Polidoro Ciburri was displayed after the papal excommunication during the Salt War of 1540.

Inside, three naves of roughly equal height rest on octagonal pillars. The wooden choir was carved in 1486 by Giuliano da Maiano and Domenico del Tasso; the stained glass in the rose window dates to 1919 and is by Lodovico Caselli. In the Cappella di San Bernardino, Federico Barocci's Deposition from the Cross was painted in 1567–1569. The Madonna delle Grazie fresco, from around 1515, is attributed variously to Perugino and his pupil Giannicola di Paolo. In the ring chapel, Jean-Baptiste Wicar's Marriage of the Virgin of 1825 replaced Perugino's panel, taken to Caen during the Napoleonic spoliations.

Context and history

The Holy Ring is traditionally held to be the Virgin Mary's betrothal ring. Perugians took it from Chiusi in 1473. It is kept behind a gilded grille in a safe secured by seven locks, with separate keys. Two cloisters survive around the church: an eighteenth-century, two-storey court houses the Museo del Capitolo, while a fifteenth-century cloister of reused granite columns remains part of the canons' residence. Below, the Perugia Sotterranea route reveals Etruscan, Roman and medieval structures beneath the Isola di San Lorenzo complex.