Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller

You may wish to see a page on the history and palaces of Todi first.
The Cathedral, a Gothic building, contains some frescoes which deserve examination. The church of the Madonna di Consolazione, built in the form of a Greek cross, is remarkable for its cluster of cupolas, considered one of the masterpieces of Bramante. The church of S. Fortunato has a rich Gothic doorway.
John Murray - Handbook for travellers in central Italy - 1843

View of the northern part of Todi with the Bishop's Palace and the Cathedral

In the late VIth century AD Todi was part of the "Byzantine corridor" which linked Ravenna to Rome across Longobard territories. Its diocese bordered on that of Spoleto, the capital of an important Longobard Duchy. Its cathedral was perhaps the tiny church of S. Carlo. In the XIIth century, when Todi had become a flourishing city-state, its citizens decided to build a grand cathedral on one of the highest points of the town, most likely above the foundations of a Roman building.

Cathedral: (left) façade which is very similar to that of S. Maria di Collemaggio at L'Aquila; (right) detail of the Romanesque apse

It took two centuries to complete the building which stands at the top of a high XVIth century staircase as if it were an ancient temple. The apse is the section which most retains its original design (see the Romanesque apse of the Cathedral of Anagni).

Cathedral: (left) portal; (right) rose window (1517-1523)

The decoration is based on the use of white and pink stones: the latter ones came from Monte Subasio near Assisi and they characterized most of the architecture of the region, e.g. at Foligno and Assisi. The façade was modified in the XVIth century with a new rose window. Apparently its design follows medieval patterns, but when it is compared with an older rose window it shows a more elaborate design (see for a comparison that of the Cathedral of Assisi).

Cathedral: (above) detail of the portal, notice the human heads inside the flowers; (below) detail of the oak door depicting the Annunciation by Antonio Bencivenni (1521) who worked also at the decoration of Collegio del Cambio in Perugia

The portal has Gothic features and the presence of humans and animals is typical of medieval reliefs (see S. Maria Impensole at Narni), but it is actually a much later work.

S. Fortunato: (left) view from the centre of the town; (right) apse and bell tower resembling that of the Cathedral of Spoleto

With the exception of the cathedral, the immense Gothic Church of St. Fortunatus is the most notable of the thirteenth-century churches here, being dedicated to the patron saint of Todi, and standing apart in picturesque seclusion. In it I spent most of my time while I remained there, for in it I discovered the most important of its communal archives. (..) Signor Angelo Angelini, the keeper of them, led me through the church down to a chamber beneath it, near the Sacristy. Here he put aside a broken devotional chair, when a low door became visible, through which we passed into a small room. Quantities of parchments, for the most part in a deplorably dilapidated state, lay heaped up on shelves and in presses by the wall, while a table which filled up the middle of the room was piled with yet more parchment manuscripts and masses of books, all thickly coated with dust. The latter had once formed a portion of the library of the Cardinal-Bishop of Albano, Bentivegna d'Acquasparta, who is spoken of by Dante. He died in 1289.
Ferdinand Gregorovius - An excursion through Sabina and Umbria in 1861 - Transl. by Dorothea Roberts
This large church was built by the Franciscans at the end of the XIIIth century to replace a previous one which stood above the foundations of the Etruscan acropolis.

S. Fortunato: (left-above) façade; (left-below) well with the name of Pope Gregory XIII which stood near the church; (right) side window

St. Fortunatus was Bishop of Todi during the Greek-Gothic War, similar to St. Ercolano, Bishop of Perugia. He is the patron saint of Todi and also a church of Perugia is dedicated to him.

S. Fortunato: (left) the portal; (centre) detail of its right side: (right) St. Francis receiving the stigmata

The fine portal is a XVth century work which, similar to the rose window of the Cathedral, follows a medieval pattern, but shows already the features of the Renaissance. The image used as background for this page shows a relief of this portal.

S. Fortunato: (left) interior; (right) chapel with XIVth century frescoes depicting events of the life of St. Francis and other subjects

Signor Natali took me over the Capuchin Monastery of Monte Santo, which is on a hill just outside the gates. (..) There I was shown, with much pride, a MS. poem by Fra Jacopone, a profound and mystical poet of the Celestine Order (a branch of the Franciscan one), and the valiant opponent of Pope Boniface VIII. Todi is very proud of this monk, who died at Collazzone in 1306, and is buried in the Church of St. Fortunatus. The words of the "Stabat Mater" have been ascribed to him, and perhaps rightly so. That glorious and celebrated hymn might well confer immortality upon any man. Gregorovius
The Stabat Mater is a XIIIth century hymn to the Virgin Mary which portrays her suffering as mother during the crucifixion of her son Jesus Christ. Several Italian and foreign composers wrote settings for this hymn, including Pierluigi da Palestrina.

S. Maria della Consolazione: eastern (left) and western (right) views

On a winter morning you may be very close to S. Maria della Consolazione and yet be unable to see it; after a few minutes, similar to a miraculous apparition, its imposing outline is bathed in sunshine.
The construction of S. Maria della Consolazione started at the beginning of the XVIth century when Cardinal Antonio Del Monte was governor of Todi. In his home town of Montepulciano he promoted the construction a large Greek cross church (Madonna di S. Biagio) which shares some points in common with S. Maria della Consolazione. The latter was completed at the initiative of Bishop Angelo Cesi. Other additions were made in the early XVIIth century.

S. Maria della Consolazione: the dome

Bramante made, in the first cloister of S. Pietro a Montorio, a round temple of travertine, than which nothing more shapely or better conceived, whether in proportion, design, variety, or grace, could be imagined.
Giorgio Vasari - Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors & architects - transl. by Gaston Du C. De Vere
Bramante developed the first plans for the construction of S. Pietro Nuovo on a Greek cross shape, thus it is usually thought that he designed also S. Maria della Consolazione. Records indicate that the building is a work by Nicola da Caprarola. He is known to have worked with Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, the architect of Madonna di S. Biagio, at Civita Castellana and with Baldassarre Peruzzi at a fortress of Porto Ercole. These senior architects might have reviewed his plans.

S. Maria della Consolazione: interior of the dome

The Italian architects of the Renaissance aimed at the maximum spaciousness in the interior of a church, and above all, for that perfect effect which can be obtained by the use of a Greek cross plan with a commanding dome carried on four supporting arches. This design however did not meet the Latin cross scheme which the Catholic Church preferred, and S. Biagio and S. Maria della Consolazione are the only two major examples of Renaissance buildings having this shape. The church of Todi was conceived a bit differently than S. Biagio, the equal branches of the cross here constitute four large apses, the vaults of which support the central part whence emerges the drum, surmounted by a dome of beautiful proportion.

S. Maria della Consolazione: (left) eastern portal; (right) main altar housing the sacred image for which the church was built; it actually portrays the mystical marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria and it was discovered in 1508 on a crumbling wall outside the town

Todi is a little provincial town of about three thousand inhabitants; and it is curious to compare such a place with a town of similar size in New England, both in what it has and what it has not. In Todi it would probably be a difficult thing to pick up a newspaper or a periodical; and a library of twenty volumes in the possession of a layman would be an extraordinary phenomenon in such a place. There might be half a dozen intelligent and conversible men found there, but hardly an educated and intellectual woman, able to take part in a conversation upon politics or literature. But, on the other hand, there is a church here by Bramante, in the form of a Greek cross, with four small cupolas supporting a large one, which is so beautiful, that, if it mere dropped down anywhere in New England, men would take a day's journey merely to look at it. There is also another church, with a Gothic doorway covered with a rich and elaborate carving, such as could not be paralleled in the whole United States. Such is Italy; rich in art, but poor in thought and action - rich in the bequests of the past, but poor in the harvests of the present.
George Stillman Hillard - Six Months in Italy in 1847-1848

(left) S. Carlo; (centre) S. Nicolò; (right) S. Filippo Benizi

When eventually the Longobards occupied the Byzantine corridor the Benedictine monks of Abbazia di Farfa acquired several fiefdoms and the church of S. Carlo is listed among their properties in the year 1112.
S. Nicolò was built in the XIVth century next to a previous church (S. Nicolò de cryptis) which stood on ancient vaulted structures; the rose window comes from the old church.
St. Philip Benizi was a Superior of the Servite Order and during the 1268-1271 conclave which was held at Viterbo he refused to become pope (see a relief at S. Marcello in Rome, the main church of the order). The portal of the church betrays the influence of that of S. Maria della Consolazione.

(left) S. Giorgio: (above) symbols of Sts. Mark and Luke and (below) fresco depicting St. George killing the dragon; (right) S. Maria in Camuccia

S. Giorgio is one of the oldest churches of Todi because it is recorded already in 1017. It was repeatedly modified through the centuries, but it was never enlarged. The symbols of the Evangelists most likely embellished the first church.
S. Maria in Camuccia is another very old church of Todi and until 1810 it was part of a Dominican convent. The architectural elements of its façade are not aligned, only the Gothic window being properly centred. The portal of the XVIth century incorporates two fine columns from a previous church which stood on the site where the fortress was built.

Views from near S. Maria della Consolazione: (left) bell tower of S. Carlo; (right) Tempio del Crocifisso, a Greek cross church built at the end of the XVIth century (see the morning fog of the Tiber valley in Sabina)

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