The premiere site in Spoleto is its duomo, sitting as it does before a large piazza. As you enter, to your immediate right is the Capelle Annunziata – a chapel full with age and beauty – featuring a worn stone-bench surround and wonderful frescos around the portrait of the Virgin. . . a crucifixion scene, Saint Jerome and the Lion, St. Michael driving Satan into darkness and so much more.
Part of the charm of this church is the patterned, tile floor, which is worn with age. Large artworks adorn the side chapel, most of them 18th century and framed with marble columns and pediments.
To the right, in the transept, is the bishop’s tomb. To the right of the chancel there is the magnificent Capella dell’Icone in which, brilliant in its ornamented surroundings, is an icon of the Virgin given to Spoleto by Frederick Barbarossa in 1185. The artwork of the Byzantine apse tells the life of the Virgin, the work of Frau Filippo Lippi. (The tomb of the artist is in the right transept.)
Probably the first thing you noticed as you entered was the number of crystal chandeliers – three large ones in particular that hang across the nave before the entrance to the transept. They are particularly beautiful. Before you leave, near the rear of the church you will have to visit the Altare, tabernacole e Armadi – the marquetry and carving in the small room is magnificent.
This is a particularly fine church and should be visited, probably before anything else in this town.