ORVIETO, Diocese of. - Diocese and city in the province of Terni.
It has an area of 350 sq km., with a population of 58,000 inhabitants, all Catholic, divided into 57 parishes with 55 diocesan priests and 15 regulars, 1 seminary, 6 male religious communities and 20 female communities (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 299). The diocese is immediately subject to the Holy See.
I. HISTORY
It was in all likelihood the center of the Etruscan federation, as attested by the great number of temples and tombs. The first preaching is attributed to St. Ansanus (late 3rd century); tradition, however, relates that the episcopal see of Bolsena was transferred to Orvieto because of Alaric's invasion. In any case, the first known bishop dates from 590. Near Orvieto a mutilated inscription of the 6th or 7th century was found that begins with: in nomine Dni nostri Iesu C(hristi), and according to G. B. De Rossi it commemorates a bishop who lived "ante episcopatum" 40 years and as bishop 11 (Bull. di arch. crist., 6 [1881], p. 117; CIL, XI, 2899). In 538 Belisarius conquered the city, which Procopius describes and names, in the Greek manner, "Ourbibentos." Paul the Deacon places the arrival of the Lombards in 605, which is perhaps earlier (late 6th century). There is then knowledge of a Lombard count Farolfo (8th century) whose nephews were devotees of St. Romuald, their guest. But non-Lombard feudatories also dominated the territory: Hugh of Tuscany (993) and Gerard (1004). The year 975 perhaps marks the first recognition of mercantile "libertates": and this through the intervention of the bishop. With the donation of Tuscia to the Holy See (12th century) the popes must have had a certain predominance in Orvieto. It is certain that in 1137 there is mention of earlier communal activities. From 1157 there is a pact that would set a precedent: Orvieto swears "ligium dominium" to the Pope, and the latter purchases the "beneficium" of being hosted and defended personally or in his successors or in the persons of the Curia. And Orvieto gave proof of fidelity to the pact by victoriously sustaining the siege of Henry VI (1189), who wished to punish the Orvietans for having subscribed, in the person of Pepo Farnese, to the Peace of Venice (1177). From then on, throughout the 13th century, the State of Orvieto subdued the Guinicesco (1168) and Ildibrandesco (1203) counties and extended as far as the sea (Orbetello: little Orvieto: I. del Giglio), bordering on Siena, Perugia, Todi and the Patrimony of St. Peter. But it was precisely this latter proximity that created territorial disputes, which favored heretical movements; Patarine Concorezzesi appeared in the second half of the 12th century. Innocent III, at the request of the Orvietans, sent Pietro Parenti as rector, but the latter was killed (1199). From then on legal persecutions against heretics began. In 1249 the Inquisition was functioning, Dominican and then (1260) Franciscan, also in connection with anti-Ghibelline policy.
The preaching of St. Francis is probable only for the peripheral territory (1216); but Franciscanism immediately took hold and in 1260, contemporaneously with Perugia, the Laudesi appeared, in whose mystical tradition Blessed Angiolina of the counts Montemarte is to be placed. The Dominicans erected there the first church to their founder (1233), held a chair of theology also with St. Thomas (1261-64 ca.), directed a school and a Third Order to which the humble Blessed Vanna belonged. Later (1259-60) Servites and Hermits were added, among the latter of whom the great theologian and prelate Ugolino d'Orvieto (d. 1371) distinguished himself.
Meanwhile the city expanded (perhaps a return) with large suburbs on the plain, and enclosed a population of ca. 30,000 persons, among whom were the famous families: Medici, Monaldeschi, Filippeschi, Ranieri, devoted to the most varied activities and to commerce even overseas (treaties with Genoa; Dominican missionaries at Samarkand, 13th-14th centuries). Special relations with European countries were also due to the sojourns of the Curia with the related arrivals of ambassadors and sovereigns (England, France, Germany, etc.). On the other hand, the anti-French movement (1282) that anticipated the Vespers was important.
Constitutional development was rapid. In the second half of the 12th century the rector or podestà was added to the consuls; in 1250, contemporaneously with Florence, came the coup d'état of the captain of the people; from '56 began the conquest - favored by the popes - of power by the Guilds, which in '92 was complete. From the same year 1292 is the cadastre, first or second in Europe. Boniface VIII favored Orvieto, where statues were erected to him, and accepted the office of captain of the people (1297-98) and of podestà (1299).
With the early 14th century the removal of Orvieto from dominion over the Tyrrhenian coast and hinterland caused grave misfortunes and internal struggles. The economic liquidation worsened toward the middle of the century, nor was equilibrium regained through various attempts at lordships (1334-53). The arrival of Albornoz, who had at the head of the troops the Orvietan Count of Montemarte, initiated (1354) the third political phase with the personal lordship of the pope, Orvieto remaining excluded from the Patrimony of St. Peter (1368). In the general confusion of the schism there was no lack of nostalgic and ephemeral returns to a quasi-communal regime (Peace of Benano, 1389), nor of sudden and brief attempts at local lordships supported by large foreign interests (Naples, Rome, Perugia, antipope, etc.); until in 1448 Orvieto gave itself to Nicholas V in nearly the form of 1368. To internal peace, blessed by the guest Pius II (1460), followed constitutional reorganization (1461), dividing power among nobles, middle class and people, with the Pope's help against feudal abuses in the countryside. In such a state, pacified and impoverished, Orvieto resisted Charles VIII twice (1494-95), instead hosting Alexander VI, whose government exercised by Valentino was excellent. But more famous is the hospitality given to Clement VII (1527-28), escaped from the sack of Rome; and from this period are, in all likelihood, certain privileges of honor of the bishop of Orvieto, followed by notable distinctions for the cathedral Chapter.
In these centuries relations with the Curia were transformed, thanks to very many Orvietan cardinals, prelates, jurists and artists who made their mark in Rome. Of some importance is also the colony of Orvieto in Paris (17th century) with a group of painters and musicians and with the famous "marchands d'Orvietan" diplomated by the kings of France themselves. At the Savoy court there distinguished himself at that time Ascanio Vitozzi, as military and civil architect.
The effects of the Catholic Reformation were not long in coming. In 1566 the Seminary arose; in 1588 the Doctrinarians and in 1621 the Jesuits opened schools and colleges. In 1794 the Carissimi arrived who, alone, resisted the Napoleonic storm. In 1564 the government was more equitably divided between nobles and commoners and in that state it was reconfirmed in 1755, so that the Jacobin invasion could presume to teach nothing. Indeed it caused the people to rise up (1798). The last episode of the Church-State struggle in Orvieto was Napoleon's persecution against bishop Lambruschini (1809), in a certain sense repeated with the imprisonment of bishop Vespignani during the Roman Republic (1849).
In '60 Orvieto, entering as part of Umbria, became the delicate point of the September Convention, won by the Orvietan F. A. Gualterio over Napoleon III.
II. PRINCIPAL MONUMENTS
Cathedral. On the site of the ancient Cathedral, already in ruins by the end of the 12th century, and on the area of the capitular church of St. Constantius, the new Cathedral was built with the previous dedication (St. Mary Assumed) on the initiative of Bishop Francesco, with Nicholas IV blessing the first stone (1290). From 1321 the Opera del Duomo, established before 1285, assumed the juridical character of a parastatal body, enriched over the centuries and then plundered (1876) by the eversive laws. The construction of the building took place in five phases. At first St. Mary Major in Rome was imitated, an oratory being erected for eucharistic worship, bas-reliefs and two portals being made (c. 1275-1280) later reused. Then came the construction (1290) of a grandiose Romanesque cathedral with three naves. In the third period (c. 1300-39) the construction was transformed in a Gothicizing taste with the cruciform transept, the square apse and the highly original facade. And here the name of L. Maitani dominated, followed by A. and N. Pisano and Orcagna, not to mention the others. The pictorial decoration (apse, chapel of the Corporal) was entrusted to Ugolino d'Ilario and his local school (mid-14th century). The fourth period - completion and decoration - began with the chapel of the Corporal (mid-14th century), continued with the crypt (late 14th century), with the New Chapel frescoed by Angelico and Benozzo Gozzoli and by Signorelli, with the completion of the facade and with the decoration (demolished in the 19th century) of the interior (16th century). In this fifth phase I. Scalza, a sculptor and architect superior to his fame, predominated, among Sammicheli, S. Mosca, B. da Montelupo and other ruiners. In the Cathedral one notes the celebrations: of the B. V. Assumed (Aug. 14, evening) connected with the "Maestà della Tavola" (Madonna and Child, late 12th century), and with a later processional machine (16th century) with traces of the earlier cult of the Lateran acheropita; of Pentecost, with a liturgical drama transformed in the 14th-15th-19th centuries ("festa della Palombella"); of the Most Holy Corporal, in the special chapel and in the public procession of "Corpus Domini" ("festa del S.mo Corporale") in relation to the miracle of Bolsena. During the stay (1262-64) of Urban IV in Orvieto, whence he issued the bull Transiturus (1264) to extend to the whole Church the Liège celebration of "Corpus Domini" (v.), it happened that in the hands of a priest, a pilgrim to Bolsena, the consecrated Host dripped blood with figures upon the Corporal. An inquiry was immediately made by the Pope and by Bishop Giacomo. The eucharistic relics with the documents indicating the miracle remained in Orvieto. The cult, to which a document of 1298 also refers, took place in a first oratory (late 13th century) where from 1338 to about 1360 stood the admirable Reliquary of Ugolino di Vieri (1338); then, in the present chapel. A sacred representation of the miracle began around 1325, being later expanded (1338?) by the Dominicans. The eucharistic procession, willed by the State as early as 1337, is the first of its kind.
St. Andrew. On the site of an Etruscan metallurgical center (furnace, washing floor, etc.) and of a temple restored in Roman times, there arose (6th century) the second collegiate church of Orvieto, restored various times (10th-11th, 12th centuries) and enriched with a dodecagonal tower (11th-12th centuries; rebuilt in the 20th century); enlarged and restored (14th-16th centuries) as it now appears. Here Honorius III crowned Peter of Artois, king of Jerusalem (1217), and here Martin IV was crowned (1281). Certainly the church over the centuries had multiple state functions, being connected with the cult of Christ the King (10th-18th centuries) venerated in an aedicula of the facade (demolished 1928) before which the oaths of fidelity of the lands subject for the "feriae Augusti" (Aug. 14, evening) were repeated (12th-17th centuries). The procession, now Marian, continues. St. Juvenal (1004?). It is called by popular tradition "the ancient cathedral," although every document on the matter is lacking. It is a true repertory of late-medieval sacred painting (12th-15th centuries). St. Lawrence "de Arari" (12th century?). So called because the altar is an Etruscan area. Well-executed restorations (20th century) have removed 18th-century decorations. St. Dominic (1233). It is the first church dedicated to the Saint. Partly demolished (14th century) for structural reasons, in 1933 it was reduced to the transept alone. Notable things: the De Brave tomb, by Arnolfo di Cambio (1282); the wooden Crucifix (13th century) that St. Thomas Aquinas is said to have praised for the Office of "Corpus Domini"; the chair, the cap and the psalter of the Aquinate. The door (14th century) was transported here (1933) from the ruined rural church of St. Spirit of the Armenians, as the inscription in Armenian characters attests. St. Francis (1240). Erected with grandiose Gothic forms and a dome-tiburium, for the Friars Minor previously resident in the destroyed hermitage of St. Peter in Vetere, around 1260 a fraternity of laudesi arose there which later (1325) reduced itself to a fraternity of disciplinati actors, who competed with many other similar sodalities. In 1272 Gregory X celebrated there the funeral of Henry of England; in 1297 Boniface VIII canonized there St. Louis king of France. Hospital of St. Mary of the Star (1179), the last remaining of the many of former times; stripped by the eversive laws (19th century). Palace of the Popes or "Soliano" (from the papal Solium). Enlarged by Urban IV (1262-64), under Boniface VIII (1297), as amends, the State of Orvieto began there the great hall of the consistory and the external staircase. It was to be the official residence of the popes who lodged in the episcopate, itself a papal construction. Unused from the Avignon exile, from 1330 it passed into the use of the Opera del Duomo, and only in 1493 with Alexander VI did it fulfill its function; but even at the time of the stays of Paul III the city had still not finished the works undertaken in the 13th century. Between the end of the 16th century and the early years of the following, it came to be considered, without reason, city property and therefore of the Opera del Duomo. Restored in the 19th century with arbitrary additions, the Museum of the Opera del Duomo was placed there. Episcopal palace: in its present form it preserves traces of the 9th-10th centuries, although the construction is of the 13th century and due to the stay of almost all the popes of that time, who gave the Fabbrica both money and the title of Apostolic, because it was to extend as far as the actual Palazzo Soliano. The governor took up residence there in the name of Nicholas V. In 1503 the building was divided between government and bishop, though it was reunited on the occasion of papal stays (Alexander VI, Clement VII, Paul III up to Gregory XVI). Municipal palace. It has the characteristic of being joined with the church of St. Andrew. It arose (13th century) on the site of a "corte." Restored and enlarged (13th century) it became the seat of the consuls, then lodging of the podestàs. It was completed by L. Maitani and decorated (14th century) with almost vanished frescoes. After the restorations were planned by Sangallo (1532), the building received a totally new facade by I. Scalza (1573-81), who had conceived of doubling the length of the facade. On the ground floor the first or second Monte di Pietà was opened (15th century). Very rich is the Archive historical archive (12th-19th centuries). Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo. One of the most imposing public buildings of 13th-century Italy; it became (1250) the seat of the captain of the people, and was therefore the center of the rising power of the Guilds, whose consuls lodged in the adjoining Palazzetto dei Signori Sette, ruined (14th-15th centuries) and rebuilt in the Roman style (15th century). Once the political conditions had changed, the building was adapted (1627) as a theater, and on the ground floor was the new seat of the Studium Generale. This university of Orvieto (confirmed in 1378) is the hearth of a juridical tradition that goes back to Gratian (12th century) and that produced Gozio, legislator to the kings of Bohemia and Poland (14th century), Pietro Ancarani de' Farnese, professor at Bologna, founder of the college of the same name (d. 1418), Giulivo Cartari (d. 1638) and his most erudite son Carlo (d. 1697), Jacopo Cohelli, agent general of the communities of the Papal State and official commentator on the bull De bono regimine (1642). It remained active until 1757. Palazzo dell'Opera del Duomo. Originally (14th century) the seat not only administrative but also judicial of the institution. Embellished (1623) and enlarged (19th century), it contains its own archive (1320) and some library holdings of local interest. Palazzo Clementini or del Cornelio. Designed and partially built by I. Scalza (1567), it is his masterpiece. Completed almost recently: it houses, together with the middle schools, the municipal library "L. Fumi," spiritual heir of the Febei (18th century). Pontifical Foundation "Lazzarini." On their return from exile (15th century) the Monaldeschi della Cervara rebuilt for themselves a large palace, completely restored by S. Mosca and I. Scalza (16th century); it then passed to the Marsciano and finally (1893) to the Pontifical Foundation "Lazzarini," established by Leo XIII for the Christian education of youth. Palazzo di Tiberio Crispo. Admirably designed by A. Sangallo the Younger, built by R. da Montelupo (c. 1550), completed by Scalza (1586) for the well-known castellan of Castel Sant'Angelo and cardinal, it soon passed (1582) to the Marsciano. Now belonging to the Ministry of Finance, it is in complete decay. Palazzo Gualterio. Designed by S. Mosca, as Vasari recalls, completed with works by Scalza, it is one of the most imposing buildings of the late and sumptuous Orvietan Renaissance, of which conspicuous examples are also the Palazzi Febei-Piccolomini, Viti-Durazzo and Buzi, now the College of the Mercedarians. The devastated Palazzo Alberi on the Corso, in its still evident medieval complex (13th century) with its splendid crown of trifora windows, would deserve a restoration as an example of the mercantile courtyard-palace of the Middle Ages. The famous Pozzo di S. Patrizio was had dug by Clement VII (1527-28) during his stay. It is a bold work by A. Sangallo the Younger. The nearby Rocca Albornoziana is originally the work of the Orvietan condottiere Ugolino di Montemarte (1364); destroyed (1390), rebuilt (1450-57), it was demolished and reduced to a garden (19th century). It is being carefully rebuilt by Bonelli. The "Mancinelli" Theater (1842-68). A most elegant work by V. Vespignani, frescoed by L. Bazzani, A. Angelini and the Orvietan C. Fracassini, to whom the curtain is due, the first work of his debated post-academic repentance. The Etruscan tombs of the necropolis near the city (e.g., at the "Crocifisso del Tufo") are, contrary to custom, not family tombs, but those of personages from various lucumonies (Chiusi, Tarquinia, etc.). The others, on the Settecamini plateau, are frescoed and family tombs. Etruscan families: Velusi, Hescana, Numena, and those Spurena from whom was born the haruspex who forewarned Caesar of the Ides of March. - See plates XXV-XXVI.
Bibliography19 works
Andrea Lazzarini