Orvieto between Art and History
Orvieto
In the 9th-8th century BC the Orvieto rock was inhabited for the first time by Etruscan populations. This settlement has been identified with the Etruscan center of Velzna (in Latin Volsinii), a city that flourished from the beginning of the 6th century BC. The Orvieto rock, intended for the worship of the main national deity and perhaps of the entire Etruscan pantheon, was divided into neighborhoods by two sacramental streets: cardo and decumanus. The decumanus (West-East) would have had on its path to the West Porta Maggiore and the original cut of the rock, the Cava, and to the East Porta Soliana, now hidden under the Rocca near which stood a temple, which was called Augurale by archaeologists. On the cardo (North-South) were Porta Vivaria to the North and Porta S. Maria to the South. The names are relatively modern, but the existence of the gates is very ancient. Among the existing and rediscovered temples, the most "heated" debate is that regarding the identification and location of the Fanum Voltumnae, which the most recent criticism today traces back to Orvieto and probably to the area to the west of the cliff. What did Velzna/ Volsinii mean in our ancient history? Livy listed it among the strongest in Etruria; Pliny called it very opulent: Valerius Maximus wealthy, ornate in customs and legislation, leader of the Etruscans; Florus the most civilized of all the cities of the Tuscan confederation. Volsinii fought against Rome in the year 280 BC and was forced to surrender its weapons to the consul Titus Coruncanius. As Roman power expanded, Volsinii made huge efforts to resist; but after the revolt of the serfs against the nobles, the Romans destroyed the city under the consul Fulvius Flaccus (3rd century BC). "It fell last of all the Italian peoples: sacked, burned and destroyed, two thousand of its statues were carried off by the victors."
With Volsinii, the Etruscan nation, already master of the sea and the heart of Italy, perished. The destruction of the city was followed by the deportation of its inhabitants, who were mostly forcibly transferred to the hills overlooking Lake Bolsena, giving rise to the new Volsinii. The name of the city also seems to date back to this era: in fact, Velzna became Volsinii-veteres or even Urbs Vetus (old city) in contrast to Volsinii-novi, today's Bolsena. When the Roman Empire also faced an irreversible crisis (3rd century AD) and Volsinii was again invaded and devastated (5th-6th century AD), the ruined city was in turn abandoned by its inhabitants who returned to occupy the Orvieto cliff. Later it became Lombard. In 596 Orvieto was in fact occupied by the Lombard Agilulfo and had its own bishop and later, in 606, its own counts. In the 11th century Orvieto became a municipality.
Shortly before the year 1000, the city began to flourish again, expanding its urban structure by building fortifications, towers, churches and palaces. The institution of the Commune is documented starting from 1137. Twenty years later, a treaty was signed with Pope Adrian IV, which increased the papal influence on the city and gave rise to the clash between the Guelph (pro-papal) and Ghibelline (pro-imperial) factions. Orvieto became a Guelph stronghold in central Italy against the repeated attacks of the Ghibelline exiles and the Swabian emperors: Frederick I and Henry IV. The thirteenth century saw progressive institutional adjustments, which led to the creation of the General Council of the Four Hundred (1215), the election of the Captain of the People (1250), the formation of a government of the elders of the arts with a prior (1256) and, finally, the creation of the magistracy of the Seven Lords (1292). In the meantime, municipal jurisdiction extended from Monte Amiata to Orbetello. The period was also particularly flourishing in building activity, with the churches of San Lorenzo degli Arari, San Francesco, San Domenico, Santa Maria dei Servi, the monumental complex of Sant'Agostino, and public buildings such as the Palazzo Comunale, the Palazzo del Popolo and the Palazzo Papale being built. In 1290, construction of the cathedral began. In 1281-84, Pope Martin IV settled in Orvieto, filling the city with Frenchmen, against whom the people rebelled. In 1334, Orvieto found its first Lord in Ermanno Monaldeschi della Cervara, who ruled until 1337. In 1354, Cardinal Albornoz occupied Orvieto, subjecting it to the Papal State.
During the Renaissance, the feudal society of the Middle Ages, based mainly on the agricultural economy and on an intellectual and cultural life inspired by religious thought, was transformed into a society dominated by central political institutions, which advocated an urban economy and secular patronage in art and literature. Renaissance as the period in the figurative arts that was opened by Giotto and closed by Michelangelo, the era in which modern humanity and consciousness came to light after a long period of decay. In the Napoleonic era, Orvieto "capital of the territory of Orvieto", first constituted a canton in the Roman Republic (1798), then of the district of Todi in the Department of Trasimeno (1809). In 1816 it returned to being part of the Papal State as the seat of Government. In 1860, a few days before the Piedmontese intervention in the Marche and Umbria, the volunteers from Orvieto and Umbria commanded by Col. Masi and known as the “Hunters of the Tiber” forced the papal troops of the Orvieto garrison to surrender. This event caused a diplomatic incident between Turin and Paris, given that the agreements between Cavour and Napoleon III did not contemplate the occupation of the city and territory of the Patrimony of St. Peter by the volunteer formations. To resolve the issue, Viterbo and Montefiascone were returned to the Pope, but Orvieto instead managed to obtain annexation to the newly formed Kingdom of Italy, after having demonstrated, on the basis of archive documents, that the city and its territory had never been part of the Patrimony of St. Peter since 1360. In 1860 the annexation of the Orvieto territory to the Kingdom of Italy with its aggregation to the province of Perugia. Cultural life, especially in the last twenty years of the 19th century, was characterised by the activity of the Academy “la Nuova Fenice” and by the major restorations carried out in the Cathedral and in the medieval buildings.
VOLSINII (ORVIETO) ANCIENT CAPITAL OF THE ETRUSCAN STATE
Pliny called it very opulent: Valerius Maximus wealthy, ornate in customs and legislation, leader of the Etruscans; Florus the most civilized of all the cities of the Tuscan confederation. The Etruscans originally occupied the region between the Tiber and the Arno, which from them took the name of Tuscany. The period of maximum splendor lasted until the 4th century BC. Later, they were absorbed by the Romans, with Volsinii (Orvieto) the last city to resist. Among the ancient peoples of pre-Roman Italy, the Etruscans are those who have most attracted the interest of modern peoples due to the very high artistic level achieved and the poor knowledge of their language, which offers no points of contact with any other known language... Even the ancients were unable to explain the presence of this powerful and refined people in the fragmented and often rough panorama of the peoples of pre-Roman Italy. The historian Herodotus, writing in the 5th century BC, attributed the origin of the Tyrrhenians (as the Greeks called the Etruscans) to a mythical founder, Tyrrhenus, who moved to central Italy after fleeing from a remote region of Asia Minor. In contrast, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, another Greek author writing in the 1st century BC, attributed the Etruscans to an Italic origin.
Finally, the Latin historian Titus Livius, a contemporary of Dionysius, thought he could support a northern origin of the Etruscans, who would have arrived in Italy from central Europe. Today we know much more about the origins of that people. The Etruscan civilization derives directly from the Villanovan civilization, which was widespread during the Iron Age (9th-8th century BC) precisely in the areas that would see the Etruscan civilization flourish. The remains of this civilization, coming, like the Etruscan ones, mainly from tombs and necropolises, testify to strong influences of the Nordic populations, in particular Celtic (Celts), which will also be found in Etruscan art, especially in the most ancient periods. Subsequently, starting from the 8th century BC, we begin to observe a change in the artefacts coming from those regions and there is a gradual transition to that type of art, characterised by very strong and evident Greek influences. The Etruscans, therefore, can be defined as the successors of the Villanovans, permeated by the influence of Greek art, which arrived in Etruria from Magna Graecia. Although being a culture originating in Italy, therefore, the Etruscan one presents itself as a civilisation strongly permeated by oriental influences, and in particular Greek. The prevailing social structure among the Etruscans was the city, which had social and architectural characteristics in many respects similar to those of the Greek cities, in particular the great accuracy with which the doors of the defensive walls were decorated, in large squared stones. Like the Greek cities of Magna Graecia, the Etruscan ones were also linked together in leagues: of particular importance, because handed down to us by sources, is the one that united the twelve cities of Velzna or Volsinii (ORVIETO), Vulci, Volterra, Veio, Vetulonia, Arezzo, Perugia, Cortona, Tarquinia, Cere, Chiusi, Roselle.
Between the 7th and 6th centuries BC the Etruscan cities reached their maximum expansion and in 540 BC a mixed fleet of Etruscans and Carthaginians defeated a Greek fleet off the coast of Alalia, in Corsica, putting an end to the Hellenic expansion towards the northern Tyrrhenian Sea. However, the moment of the great naval victory of Alalia also marked the culmination of the parable for the Etruscan civilization. A few years later, in 510-509 BC Rome, which until then had been governed by an Etruscan monarchy, the Tarquins, withdrew from this influence and began a policy of expansion into the Etruscan area: Pompeii and Capua were lost starting in 505. Starting from the 5th century the center of gravity of the Etruscan civilization moved entirely to the north. Between the 4th and 3rd centuries the Etruscan civilization collapsed: Veii was conquered by Rome in 396, between 356 and 311 Tarquinia and Cerveteri fell, at the beginning of the 3rd century Perugia, Arezzo, Cortona, Vulci and, in 264, Volsinii (now ORVIETO). The Etruscan cities were each governed by a king.
Many of the insignia of the power of the Etruscan king were later adopted by the Roman state to designate the power of the superior magistrates, the consuls and the praetors: the golden crown, the ivory throne, the sceptre adorned with an eagle, the tunic and the purple cloak woven with gold, and finally the lictors, originally bodyguards who always accompanied the king carrying on their shoulders the sign of his power to punish, that is, the bundle of rods with the axe, which they called the fasces. There were two aspects of Etruscan society that most struck Greek observers: first of all "the role of women, who, contrary to what happened in Greece, actively participated in social life; secondly, the wealth and luxury that characterised the way of life of the Etruscan ruling classes". In Etruscan society the banquet (or symposium) had an enormous importance and this is demonstrated by the fact that very often the deceased were represented on the lids of the sarcophagi as if they were participating in a banquet, stretched out on the characteristic triclinium bed. The Etruscans, moreover, were protagonists of an extraordinary artistic flourish. The art of the Etruscans is characterized by a marked realism and reflects their joy of living and their love for the pleasures of daily life, such as banquets, activities and sports competitions. More than anything else, however, the Etruscans appreciated music: the sound of the flute and the lyre accompanied all their daily activities, even the simplest ones. Furthermore, the funerary art is unique, since it comes from necropolises, among which those of Cerveteri, Tarquinia, Chiusi and Orvieto are particularly famous with underground chamber tombs, or those of Norchia, with cave tombs. The funerary furnishings and paintings allow us to discover a rich, even opulent society.
Many of the insignia of the power of the Etruscan king were later adopted by the Roman state to designate the power of the superior magistrates, the consuls and the praetors: the golden crown, the ivory throne, the sceptre adorned with an eagle, the tunic and the purple cloak woven with gold, and finally the lictors, originally bodyguards who always accompanied the king carrying on their shoulders the sign of his power to punish, that is, the bundle of rods with the axe, which they called fasces. There were two aspects of Etruscan society that most struck Greek observers: first of all "the role of women, who, contrary to what happened in Greece, actively participated in social life; secondly the wealth and luxury that characterized the way of life of the Etruscan ruling classes". In Etruscan society the banquet (or symposium) had an enormous importance and this is demonstrated by the fact that very often the deceased were represented on the lids of the sarcophagi as if they were participating in a banquet, stretched out on the characteristic triclinium bed. The religious practice for which the Etruscans were most famous, already in ancient times, was haruspicy. The Romans even called it Etruscan discipline, referring to a special ability of Etruscan priests to have a privileged relationship with the gods and to be able to recognize the ominous premonitory signs to avoid them generating negative events. Thus in the Etruscan world the ability to guess the future through the interpretation of signs, which could be meteorological events such as lightning, rain and wind, the flight of birds in a particular area of the sky grew and developed into a real art.
According to the Latin writer Publius Terentius Varro (1st century BC) and others, their main god was Vertumnus, a deity who was depicted in various ways and who had his main cult center in the sanctuary of the “FANUM VOLTUMNAE” in Volsinii (ORVIETO). Every year the Etruscans converged on Volsinii to celebrate religious rites, games and events. The FANUM, in addition to hosting the Panetruscan festivals and games, was also a meeting point for the kings of the twelve Etruscan cities, where they gathered to make the most important political and religious decisions.
City (King's Bath)
Civita was founded by the Etruscans about 2,500 years ago and they made it a thriving city, favored by its strategic position from a commercial point of view, given the proximity to the most important communication routes of that period. From the few documents found, it appears that Civita di Bagnoregio and Bagnoregio were two districts of the same city that until the 11th century was called Balneum Regis. Legend has it that it was Desiderio, king of the Lombards (756-774 AD), who gave it this name, after being cured of a serious illness thanks to the thermal waters present in the city. Some artistic artefacts have come down to us to document the Lombard phase which Charlemagne put an end to in 774, returning the territory to the Pope. From this date, Balneum Regis became part of the dominion of the Church even if during the feudal period, the city, with its always rebellious attitude, became a serious problem for the papacy. The feudal lordship ended around the middle of the 22nd century when Bagnoregio became a free municipality. The city was occupied in 1186 by the son of Frederick Barbarossa, Henry IV, who aimed against Orvieto. The Monaldeschi family of Orvieto exercised control of Bagnoregio in order to preserve it as a Guelph garrison in the context of the clashes against the Ghibellines of Viterbo. The epilogue of this control took place in 1457 when the inhabitants rose up giving life to a violent rebellion that led to the destruction of the Cervara castle, from which the Monaldeschi had exercised their power for over a century. In memory of these events, two basalt stone lions holding human heads between their paws were walled up above the area of the Porta di Santa Maria in memory of the victory of the people of Civita.
In the last decade of the 15th century, the Church's control over the city was strengthened: the "government of the cardinals" began. The downward spiral began after the earthquake of 1695, which caused serious damage to the roads and buildings, forcing many inhabitants to leave the city. The succession of other earthquakes with consequent landslides and mudslides risked leaving Civita completely isolated, contributing to an increase in the transfer of the population elsewhere, to the point of almost total abandonment. The writer Bonaventura Tecchi had called it the "Dying City" because the vast clay banks that support it are subject to continuous erosion. The majestic "calanchi", partly covered by poor vegetation, extend for kilometers and at sunset give the entire landscape a lunar appearance."
The Etruscans and the Sea
The Etruscans were originally a people of sailors, and it is no coincidence that the Sardinian sea was renamed with the name of its new inhabitants, the Tyrrhenians, as the Etruscans were originally called. Homer sings of the god Dionysus who was captured by the Tyrrhenians and who managed to free himself only after having transformed them into dolphins. The Etruscan occupation reached as far as Corsica, Sardinia, the Balearics and the Spanish coasts. Evidence of Etruscan civilization has come to light in Sardinia, North Africa, Southern France, Spain, Greece, Asia Minor and Cyprus and this attests to the existence of a very important Etruscan merchant navy that competed for dominion of the sea with the Greeks, Carthaginians and Phoenicians. The exchange on the seas with all these peoples changed the lifestyle and helped the development of the Etruscan society and economy especially in the production of luxury objects, from ceramics to goldsmithing, with specialized craftsmen. The first ships were small and therefore there was no need for particularly large ports of call and the ships were dragged ashore on the beaches or docked in natural and safe shelters, such as lakes and coastal lagoons or river mouths. Later, the relationship with the Greeks stimulated, in particular, the development of the coastal centers of southern Etruria.
In the first half of the 7th century BC, Cerveteri was in contact to the north especially with Vetulonia, which at the time overlooked the safe waters of a coastal lake. On the coasts along this route many small towns arose, acting as ports, such as Orbetello or Marsiliana, a town located at the mouth of the Albegna river which at the time formed a large lagoon. Along the coastal route to the north the port of Pyrgi also arose, which became the most important port of Cerveteri from the 6th century BC. With the intensification of trade and the appearance of larger ships, numerous ports arose along the entire coast, in particular where there were natural shelters. Real ports also arose, so that, in parallel with the formation of city centers, numerous coastal settlements arose. At the beginning of the 6th century BC the main cities founded real commercial ports, distant from the urban center to avoid any possibility of penetration by potential attackers. Pyrgi on the Tyrrhenian Sea became the official port of Cerveteri while Spina (before its discovery it was thought to be a mythological city like Atlantis) was the most important commercial port on the Adriatic Sea. Situated on a bend of the Fiora River, then navigable, Vulci controlled river traffic directly or perhaps through a port at the mouth, 10 kilometres from the main centre. The northernmost territory, probably still dependent on Vulci, instead referred to the natural ports of Orbetello and Talamone.
The acme of Etruscan thalassocracy, that is, their dominion over the sea, was reached in the Archaic Age (early 6th - early 5th century BC), a period that corresponds to the splendor of this people: there is a date in particular that marks the beginning of an ascending parabola of well-being and wealth, around 540 BC, the date of the Battle of the Sardinian Sea. The continuous skirmishes between the crews of Greek ships, interested in the coasts of southern France with the Phocaean colony of Massalia (Marseille) and Corsica where the colony of Alalia (Aleria) was, and Etruscan ships, materialized in a tragic naval battle. The battle saw Greek ships pitted against Etruscan and Punic ships: despite the favorable outcome for the Greeks, the heavy decimation of the crews and the loss of many ships forced them to abandon the central-northern Tyrrhenian sector. From the second half of the 5th century BC, however, the scenario changed radically. In fact, while the Etruscan cities had reached the peak of their economic development, the Greek colonies gave rise to an overwhelming cultural and political growth. Even on the borders between Etruria and Lazio a new significant danger had arisen: the city of Rome, once dominated and governed by an Etruscan dynasty, had become independent, going on the offensive. The decline of the Etruscans began in 474 BC at sea, when the Greeks of Italy led by the city of Syracuse inflicted a decisive defeat on them near Cumae after which they lost control of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Even on land the situation rapidly deteriorated: by the middle of the 4th century BC the once flourishing commercial and military power of the Etruscans had been reduced to city states entrenched in their territories of origin in central Italy. The proud city states, lacking a strong national identity, were unable to coordinate an effective resistance, and were thus defeated one by one with Orvieto (ancient Volsini) the last to fall. With the loss of political independence, the cycle of an ancient people who for centuries had excelled in culture and wealth in the western Mediterranean basin ended.
ORVIETO AND THE CATHEDRAL
The inspiration to build such an important work was born through the miracle of Corpus Domini as they wanted to create a grandiose shrine that would pass on this divine sign over time. On November 13, 1290, the first stone was laid for the most important spiritual, cultural and economic adventure that the city had ever undertaken. The work was initially designed and directed by the architect and sculptor Lorenzo Maitani (1275-1330) and also had the aim of sealing the fame of an ambitious municipality whose borders extended from Mount Amiata to the Tyrrhenian Sea. Its construction took three centuries (from 1290 to 1607) and involved approximately 2,500 workers and more than 150 artisans and artists. Not even the internal struggles within the municipality or the terrible plague of 1348 prevented the people of Orvieto from completing what was to be "one of the most beautiful works in the world". In addition to Lorenzo Maitani, the project for the first construction also bears the names of Arnolfo di Cambio, Fra' Bevignate and Giovanni Uguccione.
The grandiose building, begun in Romanesque style, had a basilica plan with three naves and a semicircular apse. Numerous changes were made later, especially those concerning the façade, which can be documented thanks to some parchment projects still preserved in the Opera del Duomo building and considered among the oldest projects in the history of architecture.
The majestic façade is an unprecedented combination of architecture, sculpture and mosaic in the Italian Gothic style that blends with the Romanesque and Byzantine styles. The sculptures and mosaics are arranged according to a biblical reading criterion in which the main events of the Old and New Testaments are represented. It is 52 metres high and 40 metres wide. The solemn central door, divided into panels, depicts the seven corporal works of mercy: giving drink to the thirsty and food to the hungry, clothing the naked, housing pilgrims, visiting the sick, visiting prisoners and burying the dead. Above the loggia, the result of a skilful marble embroidery by Andrea Orcagna, we find the fantastic Rose Window, set like a gem, in a frame of 52 heads of saints in panels; above, in twelve twin niches, the statues of the apostles, on the sides the twelve prophets and, in the corners, mosaics depicting Augustine, Gregory the Great, Jerome and Ambrose.
Inside, a bas-relief of fine workmanship depicting the Redeemer. In the evocative vision, within pure gold backgrounds, there are four marble pillars sculpted in bas-relief. From the left, on the first pillar are the themes of creation taken from the book of Genesis; the second pillar illustrates the stories of Abraham, patriarch of the people of Israel; in the third pillar, the images of the main evangelical episodes continue while the fourth pillar is entirely dedicated to the theme of the Last Judgement, then taken up again inside by Luca Signorelli in the fantastic pictorial cycle of the chapel of San Brizio. Above the pillars, the bronze symbols of the four evangelists are evident, the work of Lorenzo Maitani; they were cast between 1320 and 1330 and represent, from left to right, the evangelist Matthew (the Angel), the evangelist Mark (the Lion), the evangelist John (the Eagle) and the evangelist Luke (the Bull). At the top of the cusp is the bronze effigy of the Lamb of God, made in 1352 by Matteo di Ugolino da Bologna. At the center of the symbols of the four Evangelists, under a bronze canopy (on whose sides are placed six angels) is the composition of the Madonna enthroned with the Child; it was placed in place at the end of the second project of the façade, around 1329. The mosaics on a gold background extend over every part of the façade and with the exception of the baptism of Jesus, made on cardboard by the Orvieto painter Cesare Nebbia, the other representations illustrate the earthly history of the Virgin, with her parents Joachim and Anna, the presentation of Mary at the temple, the Annunciation and the wedding with Joseph.
LUCA SIGNORELLI (CORTONA 1445 - IVI 1523)
Luca Signorelli was among the Renaissance artists most committed to the representation of a scientifically rational space. He trained, as confirmed by the few historical fragments, in the provincial Umbrian environment and his works are influenced by the spatial perspective of Piero Della Francesca, of whom he was probably a pupil during his stay in Perugia and Urbino. Fundamental for the artist were however the stimuli of the Florentine artistic culture, a period in which the figures were loaded with chiaroscuro and plastic effects, achieving the balance between the masses and their insertion in the space: from this period we remember "the Flagellation" (Milan, Brera), and "the Circumcision" (London, National Gallery). In 1482 he was in Rome, active in the Sistine Chapel, executing the panel in which Moses gives the rod to Joshua and the Death of Moses.
In the following years Signorelli's style became more specific in its original characteristics, from the compositional scheme to the use of colour and light in order to define the volumes in space, as appears, for example, in the altarpiece for the cathedral of Perugia (1484), the tondo of the Madonna with Child and nudes in the background (1490-95, Florence, Uffizi) and the Education of Pan (formerly in Berlin, destroyed in the Second World War). Signorelli's creative streak found a happy expression in the fresco technique: the Stories of St. Benedict in the large cloister of the abbey of Monteoliveto Maggiore (1497-98) have a predominantly narrative character, while in the last phase his art underwent a strong dramatic and expressionistic accentuation, evident in the famous cycle of frescoes with the Last Judgement in the chapel of S. Brizio in the cathedral of Orvieto (1499-1503), where are painted, among other things, Stories of the Antichrist, Resurrection of the flesh, Hell, Paradise and various figures taken from Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Numerous figure drawings by Signorelli, of great quality, are preserved in the Louvre and the Uffizi in Florence.
LORENZO MAITANIARCHITETTO 1270-1330
Lorenzo Maitani, architect and sculptor, was born in Siena in 1270,
son of the sculptor Vitale di Lorenzo called Matano. In 1310 he was called to Orvieto
by Pope Boniface VIII and appointed master builder of the Cathedral, a position he held until his death, in Orvieto in 1330. He designed the facade, developed according to a distinctly Gothic model, new and original compared to Italian and European types. Already before 1310 he had gone to Orvieto on several occasions to strengthen the unsafe construction of the cathedral. He interrupted his stay in Orvieto in 1317 and 1319-21 to repair the aqueducts of Perugia, in 1322 to give his opinion on the continuation of the work on the cathedral of Siena and in 1323 on the planned construction of the castle of Montefalco, in 1325 to restore the castle of Castiglione del Lago.
From the document of 1310 in which Lorenzo is designated “universalis caput magister” of the Orvieto cathedral, it appears that he was charged with building the facade and supervising its sculptural decoration.
Two drawings of the façade in the cathedral museum illustrate the genesis of the Maitanese project, which from a verticalism derived from the French Gothic architecture of the Île-de-France, passed to a more refined and balanced conception. This compromise between the French and Italian spirit and aesthetic principles is also felt in the wonderful reliefs that cover the four pillars of the façade.
The four bronze angels in the act of lifting the edges of the canopy that protects the marble group of the Madonna and Child placed above the central door, and the four symbols of the Evangelists, also in bronze, protruding above the cornice that runs along the pillars of the facade, give a very clear idea of the sculptor's depth;
Due to their affinity with them, the reliefs of the three lower zones of the first pillar, which go from the Creation of the animals to the Expulsion of the progenitors from Paradise, and the reliefs of the two lower zones of the fourth pillar with the Resurrection of the Dead, Hell and the ranks of the elect and the reprobate, can certainly be attributed to Maitani.
In his reliefs, Maitani has a well-defined personality which ensures him a prominent place in Tuscan sculpture of the fourteenth century.
His profound knowledge of the anatomy of the human body is coupled with an exquisite sense of linear eurhythmy, strengthened by French influences, which bends the transparent and light garments into a soft flow. And it is precisely this calm and serene lyrical spirit that distinguishes him artistically in the history of architecture and sculpture.
THE BEAUTY
Kalón means everything that pleases, that arouses admiration, that attracts the gaze. Beauty is almost always associated with other qualities.b Hesiod (Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony): “Whoever is beautiful is dear, whoever is not beautiful is not dear”. The oracle of Delphi, when asked about the criterion for evaluating Beauty, answers: “The most just is the most beautiful”. According to mythology, Zeus would have assigned an appropriate measure and a just limit to every being: the government of the world thus coincides with a precise and measurable harmony, expressed in the four mottos written on the walls of the temple of Delphi: “The most just is the most beautiful”, “Observe the limit”, “Hate hybris (arrogance)”, “Nothing in excess”. The Greek common sense of Beauty is based on these rules, in accordance with a vision of the world that interprets order and harmony as that which places a limit on the “yawning Chaos”, from whose throat, according to Hesiod, the world sprung.
ST. PATRICK'S WELL
“It is certain that the ancients never built a building equal to this one, neither in industry nor in artifice” Giorgio Vasari It was December 7, 1527 when, on the occasion of the “sack of Rome”, the then pontiff Clement VII fled from Rome besieged by the Lanzichenecchi and took refuge in Orvieto.
The rock conveys a certain sense of security to the Pope, who however realizes that a serious problem could be the water. In fact, the water is downstream and if it doesn't rain and the Germans besiege Orvieto it would probably be the end. It is decided to build a well that has never been built before and the young Florentine architect Antonio Sangallo, who had recently been elected master builder of the factory of San Pietro, succeeding Raffaello Sanzio, is commissioned. Sangallo immediately gets to work and after examining the Orvieto rock from downstream he decides to use the water from the ancient sources of San Zeno, stating: "this is the water that will save us". There is a difference in height of over 50 meters to overcome but in his mind the idea of the well is already born, the most incredible that human imagination has conceived up to that historical moment. 62 meters deep and 13 meters wide, it is an enormous cylinder vertically divided into two concentric sectors; 72 windows open up, which have the function of transmitting the little light coming from the mouth of the well to the two staircases that are located outside the cylinder. These staircases are each made up of 248 steps, designed to allow the passage of donkeys and mules used to transport the water skins.
They have a spiral layout so as to convey traffic in two directions, one up and the other down. After a brief period in which it was also called “St. Patrick’s Purgatory”, in the 19th century it took on its current name of St. Patrick’s Well following the legend of the Irish Saint, according to which Patrick was the guardian of a bottomless cave, the very famous “St. Patrick’s Well”, from which, after having seen the pains of Hell, one could access Purgatory and even glimpse Paradise! “You have seen in part what you wanted to see... If from now on you live worthily, you are sure that after death you will come among us; but if you live badly, you have seen what tortures await you.” Sancti Patricii Purgstorium, H.da Samtrey
ORVIETO UNDERGROUND
The Orvieto Rock was born about three hundred thousand years ago following the eruption of the Monti Volsini volcanic complex.
Orvieto, a thousand-year-old city suspended between heaven and earth, has revealed another aspect that makes it unique: a maze of caves is hidden in the underground darkness of the cliff.
The geological nature of the boulder on which the ancient Etruscan Velzna (later Volsinii) stands today, has allowed
the inhabitants to dig, over the course of the millennia, an incredible number of cavities, caves, wells, cisterns and tunnels that extend, overlap and intersect beneath the modern city.
The stratigraphy conditioned the circulation of underground water and over the millennia, the inhabitants of the Rupe operated in such a particular way in the subsoil of the city, to the point of digging over 1200 caves.
The need for water supply was therefore probably the reason that gave the go-ahead
to underground constructions.
La Rupe, colonized as early as the 9th century BC, saw the prosperity of one of the most important Etruscan cities, the ancient Velzna. The first hypogea dug by man in search of water date back to this period, an irreplaceable resource in a city that, impregnable due to the rock walls that defended it, had to be able to resist sieges.
The Etruscans built ingenious cisterns for the conservation of rainwater as well as an extensive network of tunnels for its conveyance and very deep wells (with a rectangular section measuring no more than 80 by 120 centimetres) which, having overcome the permeable layers, reached the water table. Thanks to all this, Velzna (then Volsinii, today Orvieto) managed to achieve self-sufficiency for water supply, so much so that it fell into the hands of Rome, in 264 BC, only after having resisted a siege that lasted almost three years.
In the Velzna underground, many “dovecotes” were also built where carrier pigeons could enter and exit to carry out their task.
In the subsoil there are the remains of an entire medieval mill (the mill of Santa Chiara) complete with millstones, press, hearth and mangers for the animals used to grind the stones or an entire olive press, also complete with millstones, press, hearth and pipes for water and cisterns.
The Etruscans, founders of the city, made Velzna an example of modernity and organization
and was so rich that it was known by the name of Oinarea.
