 Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunciata - Piazza Duomo - Vicenza
(Photo: Vicenza Cathedral, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunciata in Vicenza
The Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunciata - the most important place of Catholic worship in Vicenza - stands in Piazza Duomo, about 250 meters from Piazza dei Signori and the Basilica Palladiana.
The building was founded in the early Christian era but underwent various reconstructions in the following centuries. Palladio also intervened, who designed the dome and the northern side portal, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. The Cathedral has been declared an Italian national monument.
Among the works kept inside, the Polyptych by Lorenzo Veneziano with the Dormitio Virginis (1366), and the Adoration of the Magi by Francesco Maffei stand out. The apse houses the Altare Dall'Acqua (1535) in the center, and on its sides is the Civran Parament (1675-1682), which celebrates the Triumph of the Cross of Christ to recall the fragment of the cross of Christ kept in a reliquary in the center of the altar.
Architecture of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunciata of Vicenza
 Facade of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunciata of Vicenza - Piazza Duomo - Vicenza
(Photo: Vicenza Cathedral, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The external aspect of the Cathedral has a Gothic facade attributed to Domenico da Venezia (16th century) with a rhombus decoration in Verona stone which gives it an elegant chromatism. The facade is divided into four levels: the first level with a Gothic portal with a strong splay and divided into five deep Gothic arches. The second level, divided into five spaces by 6 pilasters, has a beautiful frieze at the top characterized by small round arches and a large oculus in the centre. The third level is smooth and undivided and introduces the marble cross decoration which is maintained on the next level; it also has two pinnacles on its sides introduced in 1948. The last and fourth level changes this sculpture with the addition of five statues and a frieze of the Serenissima with a winged lion in the centre.
 Interior of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunciata - Piazza Duomo - Vicenza
(Photo: Vicenza Cathedral, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The interior of the Cathedral has a single nave divided into five bays with cross vaults supported by polystyle pillars leaning against the walls. Among these are the chapels of the noble Vicenza families and confraternities built between the 14th and 16th centuries.
The side chapels house, among other things, the polyptych with Dormitio Virginis by Lorenzo Veneziano (1366); the altarpiece Madonna and Child Enthroned between Saints Magdalene and Saint Lucia by Bartolomeo Montagna in the Chapel of Saint Catherine and the Passion cycle (1587-1589) by Alessandro Maganza in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.
 Apse of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunciata - Piazza Duomo - Vicenza
(Photo: Vicenza Cathedral, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The apse has a polygonal shape and is surmounted by the dome designed by Palladio (1574).
In the center it houses the Altare Dall'Acqua (1535), the work of two artists from the Pedemuro workshop, Girolamo Pittoni and Giovanni di Giacomo da Porlezza. The work - which features a balanced use of hard stones and polychrome marbles - was commissioned by the jurist and politician Aurelio Dall'Acqua, whose remains rest at the foot of the altar he wanted.
On either side of this work is the Civran Parament (1675-1682), by Bernardino Belladonna (1675), with twelve panels that house large canvases by the "tenebrosi" movement. Above it has a frieze, frame and marble parapet with statues with angels in stucco and marmorino. The theme of the paintings is that of the Triumph of the Cross of Christ to celebrate the presence of the fragment of the cross of Christ kept in a reliquary in the center of the altar.
History of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunciata of Vicenza
On the site of a pre-existing Roman private residential nucleus (1st century BC), a domus ecclesiae developed in the 3rd century, then transformed in the early Christian era into a church dedicated to Saint Euphemia, a Christian martyr, whose relics are still kept in the cathedral today.
Rebuilt with three naves already in the 6th century, the Church was further enlarged in the 8th century to be dedicated to the Virgin and then heavily remodeled in the 12th and 13th centuries.
But the project that led the building to take on its present appearance was only started in the fifteenth century on a project by Lorenzo da Bologna - bridge architect between the Tuscan school and the Italian Renaissance - and completed in the following century by Andrea Palladio who also signed the project of the dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunciata under the aegis of the Serenissima Republic of Venice.
The Gothic façade was built between 1444 and 1467, while the apse was begun in 1482 to a design by Lorenzo da Bologna.
The Cathedral suffered heavily from the Anglo-American bombings during the Second World War which razed its profile to the ground, leaving only the facade intact; the reconstruction was done with historical rigor but all the cycles of frescoes that the church housed were irretrievably lost.
The interior of the church offers a vision of the architectural stratification that took place over the centuries: early Christian mosaics and cruciform columns testify to the past transformations to which the site was subject.
Monuments and works of art of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunziata
– Dormitio Virginis by Lorenzo Veneziano (1366)
– Crowned Madonna by Antonino da Venezia (1448)
– Altare Dall'Acqua (1535), by Girolamo Pittoni and Giovanni di Giacomo da Porlezza.
– Funerary monument to Lavinia Thiene by Giulio Romano (1544)
– Tomb monument of the canons Girolamo and Giambattista Gualdo di Alessandro Vittoria (1574)
– Passion (1587-1589) of Alessandro Maganza.
– Madonna and Child between Saints Magdalene and Saint Lucia by Bartolomeo Montagna
– Adoration of the Magi by Francesco Maffei
– Madonna and Child Enthroned between Saints John the Baptist and Anthony of Padua by Giulio Carpioni (1650)
– Civran Parament by Bernardino Belladonna (1675-1682)
– Madonna enthroned between Saints Nicholas of Tolentino and Saint Nicholas of Bari by Giambattista Pittoni (1744)
Useful information for the visit
Style: Gothic, Renaissance.
Construction: V, VIII, XII, XIII century. Current plant XV-XVI century, rebuilt in the XX.
Hours: Monday to Friday from 10.30 to 12.00 and from 15.30 to 17.30; Saturday from 10.30 to 12.00 or by reservation.
Tickets: free admission.
Telephone: +39.0444.320996
Email: not available.
Website: not available. |
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