San Benedetto Cathedral

Built in the second half of the 13th century along with the abandoned Camaldolese Abbey, it features a magnificent Romanesque-Gothic facade with a large magnificient carved rosette and a neo-Romanesque bell tower. The façade is made of finely polished and squared white stones, ending with timpani, with a short gutter supported by small shelves. It has three doors all-round, the central one, which is the largest, is adorned with spiral columns with carved capitals. The interior is of an eclectic style with neo-Renaissance decorative details: the current configuration is the result of the work of the architect Virgilio Vespignani begun in 1875. The wide pictorial decoration is the work of Ulysses Ribustini, a Perugine painter of the early ' 900. The works of art by Guglielmo Ciani, the sculptor Gualdese Siro Storelli, sculptors of Perugia Francesco Biscarini and Raffaele Angeletti, the painter Giuseppe Discepoli and Luigi Sabatini from Todi are preserved. The sculptor Guglielmo Ciani in 1893 realizes the very high relief that recalls the encounter between Totila and St. Benedict in Montecassino, narrated by San Gregorio Magno. This is located on the main altar and today it faces the side of the choir. Other sculptures in St. Benedict are: the baptismal font, with crockery (painted) by the Perugines Francesco Biscarini and Raffaele Angeletti (1897), the marble altar of the sculptor Gualdese Siro Storelli and wooden statues of the Compatroni Beato Angelo and San Michele Arcangelo. Particularly remembered is a 12th-century golden wood tabernacle and a 14th-century astonishing cross. Inside the cathedral there is the chapel dedicated to the Blessed Angel of Casale, covering the city, where relics are preserved. The bronze and silver urn was made between 1958 and 1961 by the sculptor Publio Morbiducci. The cathedral is also the custodian of a rich painting and a lapidary collection.