The Duomo of Todi (also known as the Church of the Most Holy Annunciation) is the cathedral where one can admire a magnificent “Last Judgment” of Umbrian style; it was built in the 13th century on an area where a Roman building stood, and was completed in the 14th century but was modified several times. It was almost completely destroyed by a fire in 1190.
Exterior
The cathedral is located at the top of a staircase and there are two terraces.
The facade dates back to the 13th century but underwent various modifications, the latest in the sixteenth century.
The central rose window was started in 1515 and was completed under the bishop Billioti between 1517 and 1523. Its stained-glass windows are not original and date back to the nineteenth-century restoration work.
The main portal, with a pointed arch, consists of four upper panels (depicting the Annunciation, the Archangel Gabriel, St. Peter and St. Paul) and six lower panels added in 1639.
To the right of the facade stands the 14th century bell tower.
Interior
Inside, the co-cathedral has a Latin cross structure. The church is divided into four naves, with three larger naves and the fourth alongside the right nave. There are two rows of arches with Corinthian capitals supported by columns. Both the main nave and the two side naves are covered with visible wooden roofs. The transept, on the other hand, is covered with a cross vault.
At the beginning of the right outer aisle is the baptismal font, created by Piero di Moricone from Lugano in 1507.
Inside, on the counter-facade, is a fresco by Ferraù Fenzoni known as “il Faenzone” depicting the Last Judgment, a work executed in 1596 that takes inspiration from Michelangelo’s Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel.
The wooden choir was made between 1521 and 1530 by Antonio Bencivenga and his son Sebastiano.
In the apse is a painted crucifix on panel, dating back to the mid-13th century, while to the left of the presbytery is the Cesi Chapel, wanted by Bishop Angelo Cesi and with frescoes by Faenzone in 1599 on its ceiling. The same author is also responsible for the painting on the altar of the chapel.
The crypt houses three sculptures that were previously located on the facade and attributed to Giovanni Pisano and the Rubeus, as well as the wooden Madonna with Child, the Sedes Sapientiae, which was previously kept and venerated in the church of Santa Maria in Camuccia. (This wooden sculpture was stolen more than 35 years ago and was then found almost by chance and is now housed in the crypt)
Along the left aisle of the cathedral and accessible from the staircase leading to the crypt is an exhibition of sacred art and the Cathedral Treasure.
Pipe organ
In the left arm of the transept is the pipe organ. The instrument, which was built in the 1960s by the organ builder Pinchi, reuses part of the sound material of a previous instrument, a work by Angelo Morettini, dating back to 1841.
The church is very rich in paintings, and you can also admire small stained glass windows on the sides of the lateral aisles; but the real wonder is when we turn our backs on the altar and stop to admire the painting of the Last Judgment that is above the entrance and captures us in every single part.
Ferraù Fenzoni or Ferraù of Faenza (Faenza, 1562 – Faenza, 11 April 1645) was an Italian painter who worked mostly in Todi.
From 1593 he worked in Todi, where in 1594 he painted his most famous work, the Last Judgment, in the Todi Cathedral. The adjacent bishop’s palace has frescoes by Andrea Polinori and Fenzoni.
His expressive techniques embrace the styles of Mannerism and Baroque.
