A Renaissance chapel in a Gothic cathedral: the dramatic, divergent interiors of Duomo di Orvieto

View of the vaulted ceiling and east wall of Cappella Nuova (New Chapel), also known as the Cappella di San Brizio (San Brizio Chapel), in Orvieto Cathedral. The chapel’s structure was erected between 1408 and 1444, but the decoration was not completed until the following century. Fra Angelico and Benozzo Gozzoli began the frescos in 1447, but only completed two panels in the vault—Christ in Judgement and Angles and Prophets—before being called away by the Pope for another commission. The chapel languished until 1499, when Luca Signorelli and his workshop took up the commission, eventually completing their work in 1503. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Orvieto Cathedral’s spacious Gothic nave (c. 1290–1308), with its stark yet rhythmically striped decor, contrasts dramatically with the small and riotously painted Cappella di San Brizio. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

View into Cappella di San Brizio, Orvieto Cathedral. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Luca Signorelli’s fresco, The Preaching of the Antichrist (c. 1500–03) in Cappella di San Brizio. Signorelli included portraits of himself and Fra Angelico—whose plans he used to complete the frescos in the chapel’s vault—at the far left of the painting: both men are clad in black, with Signorelli in front, dressed as a nobleman and looking out at the viewer. Fra Angelico appears in his Dominican habit slightly behind the younger man. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Luca Signorelli’s Resurrection of the Flesh (c. 1500–1503) in Cappella di San Brizio. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Alabaster window and striped walls of Orvieto Cathedral. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Part of Luca Signorelli’s Apocalypse (c. 1500–03) around the entrance of Cappella di San Brizio. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Sculpture and painting in Orvieto Cathedral. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Right side of Luca Signorelli’s Apocalypse (c. 1500–03) in Cappella di San Brizio. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Stained glass in Orvieto Cathedral. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Details of Luca Signorelli’s frescos The Damned Taken to Hell and Received by Demons and The Resurrection of the Flesh, both c. 1500–03. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Relief sculpture in Orvieto Cathedral. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Fra Angelico’s panel of Prophets above Luca Signorelli’s The Damned Taken to Hell and Received by Demons in Cappella di San Brizio, Orvieto Cathedral. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Detail of Luca Signorelli’s fresco, The Damned Taken to Hell and Received by Demons in Cappella di San Brizio. Signorelli’s muscular, dynamic figures and use of bright pastels helped inspire the forms and colors of Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, particularly his Last Judgement (1536–41). Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

La Scarzuola, Montegabbione

View of the “acropolis” of la Scarzuola, near Montegabbione, Umbria. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Tucked into the steep, forested hills of Umbria sits the convent-turned-architectural-passion-project, la Scarzuola. While the religious site was supposedly founded in the 13th century by St. Francis of Assisi (and the convent built some centuries later), contemporary pilgrims make their way to this isolated spot for a different kind of mysticism: the surreal “ideal city” of milanese architect Tomaso Buzzi.

Buzzi purchased the convent in 1956, beside which he built his own rambling complex of seven, sometimes overlapping, theaters. His vision included references and symbols both famous and esoteric, culminating in the piled, small-scale replicas of European architectural landmarks that form the “acropolis” (see above). Symbolic elements like wings, eyes, and winged eyes, as well as monstrous, gaping mouths that double as doorways, appear throughout the complex, although their exact meanings remain obscure.

As much as the site often feels like a realization of something purely internal to Buzzi’s imagination, the architect was concerned with both the structures’ relationships to the physical landscape and the experiences of visitors. The individual theaters are all at least partially outside and designed to direct the viewer’s gaze in very specific ways. One of the smaller theaters, for instance, is only partially covered, the stage separated from the semi-circle of seats by water, the seats separated from each other by walls, and each seat directed at a mirror that sits in another semi-circle behind the stage (pic below). The audience therefore sees themselves and each other through these mirrors whenever they look towards the stage. And, because of the short walls blocking their peripheral vision, there is nowhere else for audience members to look.

Buzzi stopped work on la Scarzuola in 1978 before it was fully finished. After he passed away in 1981, his nephew Marco Solari continued to work on the complex, and still owns it today. The current site feels one part Parco dei Mostri, one part House on the Rock, and is open to visitors via guided tour.

For more information, or to book your own visit, go to the Scarzuola website.

View over the exterior wall to the first courtyard and church at la Scarzuola. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Sun stage, part of la Scarzuola’s multi-theater “acropolis.” Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Open-mouthed beast between the sun and moon stages and facing the main stage in la Scarzuola’s acropolis. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Our guide before one of the more eye-catching elements of the "ideal city.” Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Winged eyes, a common symbol at la Scarzuola. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Open-mouthed sea creature-cum-entranceway at la Scarzuola. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Part of la Scarzuola, Montegabbione, Umbria, Italy. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Mirrored, eye-shaped theater bordered by water and only ten seats. La Scarzuola, Umbria, Italy. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Behind the acropolis and intimate, mirrored theater. La Scarzuola, Umbria, Italy. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

La Scarzuola is also home to dogs, cats, and, within its lotus-dotted pools, frogs. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.