Cathedral and Abazia of San Pietro

The Benedictine complex of San Pietro, founded in 966 by the Abbot Pietro, rises up where the old cathedral was located in the VI Century, in an Etruscan and Roman sacred area. The Cathedral plan of three naves is from the X Century.

The façade preserves XIV Century frescos, including a rare three-faced Trinity. The interior discloses columns with ancient Ionic capitals, guilded wooden lacunar ceiling and paintings and sculptures dating from the XV to the XIX Centuries. Among them, works by Perugino and by Vasari and canvases of the central nave and the counter-façade with scenes of the life of Jesus, from the Old and New Testament and the triumph of the Benedictine Order, painted by Antonio Vassilacchis, known as Aliense (1592-94).

The choir and side naves contain frescoes painted in the late Mannerist style and the wooden choir is of Lombard school. From underneath the apse, a passage leads to the early medieval crypt: it has a circular floor plan and holds an interesting ambulatory and walls plastered and painted with geometrical and figurative motifs. The sacristy houses five altar-step  of the Ascension of Christ by Perugino. The campanile rises up from the base of the old roman mausoleum and its present structure is due to the reconstruction during the XV Century following the project by Bernardo Rossellino. 

The complex is property of Fondazione per l’Istruzione Agraria and it has three cloisters leading to the botanic garden and medieval garden, to the Tesori d'Arte Gallery, to the library and archive, where are preserved books, codes and ancient manuscripts.