Orte Cathedral or the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, Orte (; ''Basilica Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta''), is the main

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church of

Orte Orte is a town, ''comune'', former Catholic bishopric and Latin titular see in the province of Viterbo, in the central Italian region of Lazio, located about north of Rome and about east of Viterbo. Geography Orte is situated in the Tiber V ...

, located in front of the Piazza della Libertà, in the

province of Viterbo The province of Viterbo () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Viterbo. Geography Viterbo is the most northerly of the provinces of Lazio. It is bordered to the south by the Metropolitan Cit ...

, region of Lazio, Italy. It is dedicated to the

Assumption of the Virgin Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of whether Mary died or whether she was ra ...

. It was the episcopal seat of the bishops of Orte, which in 1437 was united ''

aeque principaliter ''Aeque principaliter'' ("equally important") is a Latin term used by the Roman Catholic Church to indicate a merger of two or more dioceses in which – to avoid questions of predominance – the dioceses are all given equal importance. Such a ...

'' with the diocese of Civita Castellana, and merged into it in 1986; it is now a

co-cathedral A co-cathedral is a cathedral church which shares the function of being a bishop's seat, or ''cathedra'', with another cathedral, often in another city (usually a former see, anchor city of the metropolitan area or the civil capital). Instances o ...

. It is an immemorial

minor basilica Basilicas are Catholic church buildings that have a designation, conferring special privileges, given by the Pope. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectura ...

History

A church existed on the site by the 9th century. By the 18th century, despite some refurbishments, it was in need of reconstruction. In 1721, the church was reconsecrated after bring rebuilt by the architects Castrachini and Bizzacchero, maintaining the same layout, with a nave in a late-

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style. The single nave is flanked by solid rows of pilasters leading to a crossing topped by a small dome, and a semicircular apse. The white marble west front with decorative volutes was added in 1898 - 1901. The interior is notable for a main altarpiece of the ''Virgin in Glory and Holy Martyrs'' (1752) by

Giuseppe Bottani Giuseppe Bottani (1717 – 1784) was an Italian painter active in the Baroque period. Biography He was born in Cremona, and lived as a boy in Pontremoli. He was sent to study in Florence, where he was a pupil of Vincenzo Meucci and Antonio Pu ...

. The pipe organ, recently restored by Wijwand Van der Pol, has elements from a previous organ made by Domenico Bevenuti in 1582 and Domenico Densi in 1721.Comune of Orte
entry on church

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orte Cathedral Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy Churches in Orte Neoclassical architecture in Lazio 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Minor basilicas in Lazio Cathedrals in Lazio Neoclassical church buildings in Italy