History

The origins of Todi’s cathedral are not documented with precision; historians place the start of construction in the 11th or, more probably, the 12th century, on ground that had earlier carried a Roman structure. Building proceeded in the usual medieval sequence: the apse first, then the transept, the naves, and probably the bell tower. This early phase was interrupted twice within a few decades, first by a fire that damaged the neighbouring Bishop’s Palace in 1190, and then by an earthquake in 1246 that required repair work documented into the 1260s; a further roof collapse in 1322 forced yet another rebuilding campaign.

The facade reached something like its present form only gradually. Its lower register, with three portals, dates largely to the 13th century, but the carved wooden door now in place was added between 1513 and 1521 by the sculptor Antonio Bencivenni da Mercatello, and the rose window above it was finished in 1523. Bishop Angelo Cesi, appointed in 1566, promoted a further round of work: internal vaulting and external flying buttresses to stabilise the structure, and a decorative campaign entrusted to the painter Ferraù Fenzoni, who frescoed the apse, the counter-facade and a series of altarpieces between 1594 and 1599, including the Last Judgment of 1596 that still dominates the entrance wall. In 1851, the Roman architect Francesco Fontana carried out a restructuring explicitly aimed at recovering the building’s medieval character, a goal that shaped the plain stone interior visitors see today; the Assisi-stone floor, in alternating white and pink, was laid between 1833 and 1853 in the same spirit of restoration.