Overview

Cattedrale Metropolitana di San Pietro was built over the site of a Romanesque cathedral, destroyed by fire in 1141. The architect Domenico Tibaldi designed the presbytery in 1575 and restored the Romanesque crypt, which can still be visited today. It was redesigned at the beginning of the 17th Century by Ambrosini and Donati, and the 60-meter wide vault was also built during this period. This building's special features are contained in the two concentric belltowers; in the 13th Century the oldest Romanesque style belltower was enclosed by a taller belltower. The interior is extraordinarily large and is made up of a nave with adjoining side chapels. There are two red marble holy water containers, decorated with lions, which belonged to the original Romanesque-Gothic basilica. The building includes paintings by Creti, Fontana, Carracci, and Tiarini. In the first chapel on the right there is a Pietà made up of eight terracotta statues by Alfonso Lombardi. The crypt was renovated in 1965 and is decorated with two cedar wood statues dating back to the 13th Century.