Emilio Greco sculptor of the bronze doors of the Cathedral

In 1962 the Opera del Duomo commissioned the new doors for the cathedral of Orvieto from Emilio Greco. At the time the artist, born in Catania in 1913, was already a well-known artist and had participated in many exhibits in Italy and abroad with works as famous as the Monument to Pinocchio in Collodi, of 1956. He held the chair of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples and continued his teaching career in Rome, Munich and Salzburg. In the years when he was working on the doors for the cathedral of Orvieto he was commissioned by Monsignor Giovanni Fallani to sculpture the Monument to Pope John XXIII for the Vatican basilica. His works are to be found in the principal museums of the world and, up until 1995 the year of his death in Rome, he continued to receive prestigious awards and international recognition.

Once his preliminary sketches for the doors had been approved, he completed his monumental doors in 1964. They were cast by the "Fonderia d'arte Cav. Renzo Michelucci" of Pistoia, while the steel armature for the hinges was provided by the Orvieto firm of Fernando Tenerelli. The subject of the central door, attentively studied by the artist, was the Seven Works of Mercy. The figures of angels on the two side doors were a condensation of ideal and natural beauty. The doors arrived in the city on August 8, 1964, in time for Pope Paul VI, in pastoral visit to Orvieto, to see them inside the cathedral where they had been deposited.

This was not however the end of it all. As early as 1963 a violent dispute without exclusion of blows had been ignited on a national level with leading personalities in the fields of culture and art taking sides. It was not a matter of whether the doors were considered aesthetically valid but involved the issue of conservation and respect for the historical cycle of the monument. To be more precise, the question was just how and when this cycle should be considered closed or complete, to the point of excluding innovations, additions or interferences. The bureaucratic course was of no help and the political connotations assigned to the two opposing sides constituted still another delay. Thus the new doors were not installed in the portal of the cathedral until 1970, when a ministerial decree finally broke this deadlock. At dawn of August 11, 1970, after a night of preliminary work, Emilio Greco's bronze doors were finally hung in the fourteenth-century openings.

In view of his profound ties with Orvieto, the artist donated an important collection of his work to the city, to be permanently on exhibit next to the cathedral for which he had so passionately worked.