Description of the attraction
Palazzo Soliano, also known as Palazzo Boniface VIII, was built by order of Pope Boniface VIII, according to some historians. Others consider the more likely version that the palace was built by the inhabitants of Orvieto in gratitude to this Pope, who removed the papal interdict and a huge fine from the city for the damage caused by the city's troops to the castles in the Val di Lago. To this day, Palazzo Soliano remains in the ownership of the Catholic Church.
A wide flight of stairs leads to the second floor into the most spacious room of the palace with ten Gothic windows, which was used as a reception hall for officials. This floor was built between 1296 and 1297 over a covered gallery on the first floor, the construction of which began under Pope Urban IV. The top of the palace is crowned with a crenellated wall of the Guelphs and is decorated with a row of windows divided by columns into two arched parts.
Today, Palazzo Soliano houses the Museum of Art from the Cathedral of Orvieto (Museo dell'Opera del Duomo). It houses works from the Renaissance to the Mannerist era and paintings from the 19th century. Among the artists whose works are presented in the museum are Giovanno Lanfranco, Girolamo Muziano, Federico Zuccaro, Cesare Nebbia, Pomarancho. The invaluable collection of drawings by Ippolito Skalza and drawings by Cesare Nebbia for the alteration of the Cathedral's frescoes deserve special attention. The Mannerist sculptures of the apostles and saints, which adorned the cathedral until the 19th century, are also part of the museum's collection.
At the bottom of Palazzo Soliano, there is another museum, the Emilio Greco Museum, dedicated to the artist who worked on the magnificent doors of the Orvieto Cathedral. Here you can see about a hundred of his works.
