Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta Montepulciano

The Cathedral was built between 1594 and 1680 and it was solemnly consecrated on June 19th, 1972 by His Excellency Bishop Francesco Maria Arrighi. In order to build the cathedral, the old parish of Saint Mary was demolished. The parish priest’s rights to such parish were acquired around the year one thousand from an ancient church outside the castle walls, located where the Church of Saint Biagio stands nowadays. The project was commissioned to Ippolito Scalza, an architect from Orvieto. The only surviving structure of the ancient parish is the massive bell tower made with travertine and brick ashlars, built during the second half of the 1400s by Iacomo and Checco di Meo from Settignano. The apex, characterized by slender bell mullioned windows, was never completed. The same destiny was reserved to the facade, where Tuscan order pilasters , with semicircular arches inserted among them, create a dynamic interplay of spaces on the sides covered with brick and travertine ashlars. In the interior, the architectural style shows a great Florentine influence. The neatness of the plastered surface alternated with the wall ornament of stone ashlars renders the interior simple and elegant. The plan adopts a Latin cross divided in three naves by powerful pillars that support semicircular arches. In the central nave, in the transepts and in the apsidal pocket , protruding entablatures support a barrel vault; where the two orthogonal surfaces meet, the angular pendentives support the drum on which stands the cupola. The lateral naves are enriched by Gothic vaults; on the walls , corresponding to each bay, chapels with barrel vaults open up. The pulpit, supported by small Ionic order columns, leans on a pillar on the right hand side. The vast spaces of the Cathedral are enriched by a great number of art works. Some of them come from the ancient parish and from other churches in Montepulciano’s area. Among these we’d like to point out the following: the monumental triptych of the Assumption, painted by Taddeo di Bartolo in 1401, that towers on the main altar; the small panel painting , dated 1400, and called Madonna del Pilastro ( Madonna of the Pillar), realized by Sano di Pietro: the baptismal font , dated 1300, attributed to Tino di Camaino, and in the back, the Gigli altar in polychromous, glassed terracotta, dated 1512 and created by Andrea Della Robbia. Such altar frames a small marble bas relief , dated late 1400; the wooden polychromous statues representing the Messenger Angel and the Virgin Mary, by Francesco of Valdambrino: a panel painting, dated 1500, representing the Saviour by Bartolomeo Neroni nicknamed Riccio,; the canvas portraying Saint Sebastian, a Florentine work dated 1600; and finally, in the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament , a canvas dated 1830, painted by Luigi Ademolfo. The funerary monument in marble from Carrara dedicated to Bartolomeo Aragazzi and dated 1400, is attributed to Michelozzo. Nowadays the monument has been divided in seven fragments, walled in different places: two statues and the frieze with amours, and garlands, are located on the major altar. The monument was fragmented during the second decade of 1600, when the altars and the chapels were transformed. During early 1800, two angels were stolen. Now, they’re located in the Albert Museum of London. The present location dates back to 1815. The big organ, located in the semi circular choir of the apsis, was inaugurated in 1839. The sacristy and the capitulary room host an important nucleus of paintings and sacred objects , coming from different time periods.