Duomo of Fabriano.
The enthusiastic volunteer in the cathedral of Fabriano was clearly happy that he had visitors from abroad in his building. He immediately embraced us and took us on a tour along the highlights of the Duomo. There were quite a few of those, or so our friendly guide believed. He basically called every work of art in the Duomo a capolavoro, a masterpiece. The main reason for us to visit the cathedral was the work of the local painter Allegretto Nuzi (ca. 1315-1373). His fourteenth-century frescoes have fortunately been partially preserved, even though the cathedral itself was almost entirely rebuilt in the seventeenth century.
History
The history of the Duomo goes back to at least the eleventh century. In the fourteenth century the building was expanded. The current apse and parts of the transept still date from this period. In the early seventeenth century, the Duomo had become dilapidated, and so the decision was taken to have it almost completely rebuilt. The rebuilding was executed between 1607 and 1617 by the architect Muzio Oddi (1569-1639), a native of Urbino. On the outside the Duomo was provided with a fairly boring brick façade with preciously few decorations, but internally the building was beautifully decorated with gilded stucco. For this work the sculptor Francesco Silva (1560-1643) was hired, who was from Ticino in present-day Switzerland. The rebuilt Duomo was consecrated in 1663.
Interior of the Duomo.
The Duomo was only granted the status of a cathedral in 1728. In that year the diocese of Fabriano was founded. The town was previously part of the diocese of Camerino, which probably explains why the Duomo is dedicated to Saint Venantius of Camerino (San Venanzio), a rather obscure fifteen-year-old martyr from the reign of the Roman emperor Decius (249-251). In 1825 the ruinous bell-tower of the Duomo was demolished. It was later replaced by a new one, designed by the virtually unknown architect with the beautiful name Ermogaste Bonfili. Those visiting the cathedral nowadays will enter a building filled with light where tourists are more than welcome. Apart from an enthusiastic guide the Duomo has information panels in multiple languages, while the light in the chapels is automatically switched on upon entry.
Medieval frescoes
The older artworks are to be found in the chapels of the fourteenth-century apse. These are hidden from view by the new, seventeenth-century choir, but they can assuredly still be visited, and there are clear instructions in the Duomo how to get there. On the left side of the choir a passageway has been created in the wooden choir stalls which leads to the medieval transept. Here we enter the first chapel, the Cappella della Santa Croce, where we find the remains of frescoes of the Crucifixion and of Saint Helena, painted in 1415-1416 by Giovanni di Corraduccio from Foligno. The next space is the Cappella di San Giovanni Evangelista, with two fragments of frescoes by the so-called Maestro di San Verecondo. He painted a portrait of Saint Franciscus of Assisi and of Saint John the Evangelist being boiled in a cauldron full of hot oil. This was an attempt by the Roman emperor Domitianus to execute the evangelist, but according to tradition Saint John survived the boiling unscathed. The emperor thereupon banished him to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of the Apocalypse. The botched execution is said to have taken place in Rome, at the Latin Gate (see Rome: San Giovanni a Porta Latina).
Another fourteenth-century fresco in the Cappella di San Giovanni Evangelista represents a Nativity scene, while on the right we see a Crucifixion by Allegretto Nuzi. The chapels are very shallow, so that visitors inevitably get up close and personal with the frescoes. This enables them to see the fine details very well, but it makes taking pictures rather difficult. This is certainly the case in the Cappella di San Lorenzo, where Allegretto Nuzi painted a large fresco cycle about the life of Saint Lawrence, the deacon who was martyred in the year 258 during the persecutions orchestrated by the Roman emperor Valerianus (253-260). Nuzi’s frescoes date from ca. 1365. Among other things we see how the saint is brought before the emperor, distributes the treasures of the church among the poor, baptises his fellow prisoner Lucillus and the gaoler Hippolytus (see Rome: San Lorenzo in Fonte) and is ultimately roasted alive on a gridiron. Part of the cycle is a Madonna and Child flanked by Saint Venantius, who was a contemporary of Saint Lawrence (in the past it was mistakenly assumed that Lawrence was also martyred during the reign of the emperor Decius). Sizeable chunks of the frescoes have unfortunately been lost, but the colours are still bright and beautiful.
More modern work
Cappellone del Santissimo Sacramento, with a Last Supper by Giuseppe Bastiani.
The Duomo has five chapels on either side of the nave. In the transept we find two more extra-large chapels or cappelloni. Given the fact that the Duomo was rebuilt in the seventeenth century, it is hardly surprising that most art in the chapels dates from this century. Artists who contributed to the decoration of the chapels were, among others, Lazzaro Baldi (1624-1703), Claudio Ridolfi (ca. 1570-1644), Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri (1589-1657) and Antonio Viviani (1560-1620). The latter was nicknamed il Sordo di Urbino, “the deaf man of Urbino”. Apparently he was not really deaf, but worked on his paintings unperturbedly and did not respond to people when they tried to speak to him (our guide acted this out by putting his fingers in his ears). The frescoes in the two oversized chapels are by Giuseppe Bastiani from Macerata.
By far the best seventeenth-century works can be found in the first chapel on the right and the second and fourth chapels on the left. In the first chapel on the left is a seventeenth-century replica in colour of Michelangelo’s Pietà, but our attention is drawn to the two large canvases on the walls. These are the work of Salvator Rosa (1615-1673), a painter from Naples. On the left we see Saint Jerome, on the right Saint Nicholas of Tolentino. Even more interesting are the two aforementioned chapels on the left, which were both decorated by Orazio Gentileschi (1563-1639). He is best known for being the father of the female painter Artemisia Gentileschi (ca. 1593-1656), but he was an excellent painter himself as well. In the 1610s he lived and worked in Fabriano, embellishing the Cappella di San Carlo Borromeo and Cappella del Santissimo Crocifisso in the Duomo. Especially the latter chapel is very impressive, with its powerful altarpiece of the Crucifixion and frescoes featuring scenes from the life of Christ.
Sources: Bradt travel guide Umbria & the Marche (2021), p. 251, the information panels in the church and Allegretto Nuzi e il ciclo pittorico di San Lorenzo – Radio Gold.