Tivoli Cathedral, the cathedral of San Lorenzo, is the seat of the bishop of the diocese of Tivoli and has the title of minor basilica. Legends attribute its foundation to Emperor Constantine or to Pope Saint Simplicius, a native of Tivoli; the first reliable mention is in the Liber pontificalis, which records that Pope Leo III, between 795 and 816, enriched the cathedral with gifts.
What to see
The early medieval church rose on the civil basilica of the forum of ancient Tibur, reusing its apse of the first century BC, still preserved behind the tribune. Between the eleventh and twelfth centuries it was rebuilt as a Romanesque church with three naves, and the bell tower dates from that time: almost 47 metres high, it is the only surviving part of the Romanesque cathedral. The present building is due to the Milanese Cardinal Giulio Roma, bishop of Tivoli from 1634 to 1652: work began in 1635, the church was dedicated on 1 February 1641 and consecrated on 27 October 1669; the façade with its three-arched portico dates from 1650. It has a single nave with side chapels, on the model of the Gesù in Rome, and the piers enclose the old Corinthian columns of the Romanesque church.
The decoration of the nave and apse was painted in 1816 by the Roman painter Angelo De Angelis, not by Carlo Labruzzi as is often said: on the vault Religion, Saint Lawrence and Faith, in the apse the Tivoli saints Simplicius, Generosus, Symphorosa and Getulius. Behind the high altar of 1704 hangs Pietro Labruzzi's canvas of Saint Lawrence before the judge. The Chapel of the Deposition holds one of the most important works: the poplar-wood group of the Descent from the Cross, from 1220-1230, attributed to a Cistercian workshop, with six statues slightly larger than life. The Chapel of the Immaculate Conception has the statue of the Virgin by Christophe Veyrier and decoration by Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi; in the Chapel of the Crucifix Our Lady of Sorrows is attributed to Guido Reni or his school. Between 2014 and 2019 all the decoration was restored.
Visiting
The cathedral is in the historic centre of Tivoli. In the narthex you can see the sixteenth-century fresco of the Madonna della Pietà. Opening hours should be checked with the parish.
Our editors' tip
Over the altar of the Chapel of the Most Holy Saviour is the Triptych of the Saviour, a work by the Benedictine monks of Farfa from the first half of the twelfth century; the silver cuirass that covered it, made by Tuscan craftsmen in 1449, is displayed in a showcase on the left. It is also the only chapel that still shows the pale seventeenth-century decoration, covered elsewhere by the neoclassical one.
