Orvieto Duomo

Maybe it was the change of pace from the architecture one sees in Rome and in the south, but we really enjoyed the Duomo in Orvieto...

Gothic! and zebra stripes too!

The great facade; the reliefs on the lowest level warrant their 
own post; so we'll go inside this magnificent 13th-15th century 
cathedral

Nave

Although there is some traditional stained glass in the chancel 
and elsewhere, most of the windows are done in translucent 
alabaster

Gotta' have a relic; this the 13th century altar cloth onto which blood fell from 
a consecrated host, thus "proving" the (recent, 1215) theory of transubstantiation

But what we liked best was the Nuova Cappella, and Luca Signorelli's 1499-1504 
fresco cycle of the Last Judgment (and damnation, etc.)

They should have had Signorelli do the Sistine Chapel judgment; IMHO

Alas, the frescoes are up pretty high in the chapel, and I had to hurry the photos 
too;  there are good representations on the web; oh yes, the ceiling and other 
work is by Fra Angelica, and, fittingly, there are many representations of Dante 
in the lower tiers; an amazing place