Cathedral of San Lorenzo
The Cathedral of San Lorenzo is located in the historic center of Perugia, in Piazza IV Novembre, defining its northern side.
The Cathedral of San Lorenzo is located in the historic center of Perugia, in Piazza IV Novembre, defining its northern side. The Cathedral of San Lorenzo is one of the city’s most emblematic religious buildings. Inside, it houses Federico Barocci's Deposition from the Cross and the precious relic of the Virgin’s wedding ring. Once, the Madonna Enthroned with Saints John the Baptist, Onofrio, Lawrence, and Herculanus by Luca Signorelli was also kept here, though now it is in the Chapter Museum (accessible from the cathedral cloister). An initial church dedicated to the protomartyr Lawrence, martyred in Rome in 258 AD, was built as early as the 9th century on top of the ancient forum of the Etruscan-Roman city. However, no traces of this original construction remain. The current church, designed in the 14th century, assumed its present form in the 15th century. The exterior, left unfinished, features a façade and side walls clad in red and white marble. The main façade, much less imposing than the side facing Piazza IV Novembre, opens onto Piazza Danti and is adorned with a baroque portal from 1729, designed by Pietro Carattoli. The side wall is marked by a portal from 1568 by Galeazzo Alessi, above which a wooden Crucifix was placed in 1540 by the citizens of Perugia during the Salt War against Pope Paul III. Continuing along this side, one finds the pulpit where, according to legend, Saint Bernardino of Siena preached to the people of Perugia between 1425 and 1427. The bronze statue of Pope Julius III, created by Vincenzo Danti in the 16th century, is also notable. Inside, the church has three naves with five bays each, separated by sturdy pillars, and is completed by a crossing, transept arms, and five apsidal chapels. The vaults are covered with dense decorative motifs that form a true anthology of 18th-century painting.
Among the works preserved in the church, notable are the sarcophagus of Bishop Giovanni Andrea Baglioni by Urbano da Cortona (1451) on the counter-façade and the large painting by Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia depicting the Virgin among the city's patrons and Saints Augustine, Dominic, and Francis. A chapel of particular devotion is the Chapel of the Holy Ring, decorated on the main altar with a painting by Jean-Baptiste Wicar from 1825, replacing a painting by Perugino on the same subject, now kept in the Caen Museum. At the beginning of the right nave, behind a wrought iron gate from the late 15th century, one can admire Barocci's Deposition from the Cross (1567-1569). An elegant 15th-century portal to the right of the transept leads to the sacristy, where one of Perugia’s finest Mannerist cycles is preserved. From the darkness of the heptagonal apse, the colors of the stained-glass windows and the carved wooden choir from 1486, by Giuliano da Maiano and Domenico del Tasso, emerge. In the left nave, noteworthy are the remains of the Pietà Altarpiece, sculpted by Agostino di Antonio di Duccio in 1474, and the Gonfalone altar, where a processional banner painted by Berto di Giovanni in 1526 to commemorate a severe plague outbreak is displayed. This banner is one of the most complete iconographic documents of Perugia before the construction of the Rocca Paolina and the subsequent urban transformations. In the cloister of the cathedral is the Chapter Museum of San Lorenzo. The church holds the revered relic of the Virgin’s wedding ring, taken from the inhabitants of Chiusi in 1473. The ring, enclosed in a special reliquary and a safe with seven locks, is placed eight meters high in a niche protected by a gilded iron grille and secured by four additional keys. The Holy Ring is displayed only twice a year, between July 29 and 30 and on the penultimate Sunday of January, when the Feast of the Wedding is celebrated, and wedding rings are blessed. Below the Cathedral lie ancient structures that are part of the underground Perugia, a path that allows visitors to discover Etruscan, Roman, and medieval works. Access is available from the adjacent complex of the Island of San Lorenzo.