Wender·Vista
Orvieto Duomo
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileItaly
on the tufa cliffs of southern Umbria

Orvieto Duomo

— the gold the evening finds in the stone.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
Above the bench, in a warm oak surround.
— Above the bench, in a warm oak surround.
Beside the kettle, propped on the counter.
— Beside the kettle, propped on the counter.
Above the linens, in a slim black surround.
— Above the linens, in a slim black surround.
On the nightstand, on a light oak stand.
— On the nightstand, on a light oak stand.
On a picture ledge, where the light comes in.
— On a picture ledge, where the light comes in.
— a note from the studio

“A cathedral on a cliff of volcanic tuff, in a hilltop town between Rome and Florence. The façade reads as gold and stripes from the square below: bands of black basalt and white travertine, mosaics laid in the gaps. Lorenzo Maitani drew the front in the early 1300s; the building took three centuries to finish. Inside, a chapel Signorelli painted just before Michelangelo got to the Sistine, and a cloth that started a feast day. Most people come up from the train station by funicular, blink at the façade once, and forget what they were doing.

from the studio
shown in a slim black floating frame · 6 × 6 in
— shown in a slim black floating frame · 6 × 6 in
— bring it home

Orvieto Duomo, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

comes gift-ready
— comes gift-ready

Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.

or build a grouping
— or build a grouping

Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.

— about Orvieto Duomo

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Orvieto sits on a plateau of volcanic tuff in southwestern Umbria, about 100 kilometres north of Rome and 120 south of Florence. The Duomo, the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, is the town's centre, begun in 1290 under Pope Nicholas IV. The town itself rises to roughly 325 metres above the Paglia valley; the cathedral is reached by a funicular from the Orvieto Scalo train station, originally opened in 1888 and rebuilt in 1990. The upper station is at Piazza Cahen, a ten-minute walk to the Duomo through the Corso Cavour. The building stands within the historic centre of the old town.

— the stone

The façade is a four-part composition by Lorenzo Maitani and the workshop that followed him, begun around 1310 and worked on through the 14th and 15th centuries. The lower register carries marble bas-reliefs of Genesis, the Tree of Jesse, the New Testament, and the Last Judgment, separated by clustered piers. Above them, gold mosaics of Marian scenes, restored repeatedly through the 17th century, sit between bronze figures of the four Evangelists. Black basalt and travertine alternate in horizontal courses on the flanks, the same striped scheme Siena uses but worked in different stone. The rose window is the work of Andrea Orcagna.

— the visit

The cathedral is open daily, with seasonal hours that shorten in winter. Entry to the nave is free, but the Cappella di San Brizio and the Cappella del Corporale require a combined ticket from MODO, the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo di Orvieto. The San Brizio chapel holds Luca Signorelli's Apocalypse cycle, painted between 1499 and 1502 and cited by art historians as a direct influence on Michelangelo's Sistine. The Corporal chapel holds the bloodstained cloth from the Eucharistic miracle at Bolsena in 1263, the event that prompted Pope Urban IV to institute the feast of Corpus Christi the following year.

— where
Italy · Orvieto, Umbria
— elevation
325 m · 1,066 ft
— position
42.7175° N · 12.1125° E
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
1 km E
Pozzo di San Patrizio
Renaissance well
0.3 km N
Torre del Moro
medieval clocktower
0.4 km NW
Palazzo del Popolo
medieval civic hall
0.2 km W
Orvieto Underground
Etruscan cave network
N
Orvieto Duomo
Pozzo di San Patrizio
Torre del Moro
Palazzo del Popolo
Orvieto Underground
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Orvieto Duomo — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

The Orvieto Duomo is the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, the cathedral of the Italian hilltop town of Orvieto, in the Umbria region. Construction began in 1290 under Pope Nicholas IV and continued for nearly three centuries. The façade is considered one of the major works of Italian Gothic architecture.

Lorenzo Maitani, a Sienese sculptor and architect, took over the project around 1310 and is credited with the overall design of the façade. The lower marble bas-reliefs are largely his workshop's. Later contributors included Andrea Orcagna, who designed the rose window, and Andrea Pisano.

The four gable mosaics and the central tympanum carry gold-leaf glass tesserae set against marble, showing scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary. The mosaics have been restored or replaced repeatedly since the 14th century; much of what is visible today dates from later restorations rather than the medieval originals.

The Cappella di San Brizio holds Luca Signorelli's cycle on the end of the world and the Last Judgment, painted between 1499 and 1502. Art historians frequently cite Signorelli's nudes here as a direct influence on Michelangelo, who began the Sistine Chapel ceiling a few years later.

The Corporal is a bloodstained altar cloth associated with a Eucharistic miracle that took place in nearby Bolsena in 1263. According to the tradition, a doubting priest saw the consecrated host bleed onto the cloth during Mass. Pope Urban IV instituted the feast of Corpus Christi the following year, and the relic was placed in Orvieto.

Orvieto sits on the main Rome to Florence rail line. From the Orvieto Scalo station at the foot of the cliff, a funicular runs to the historic centre at Piazza Cahen roughly every ten minutes. The Duomo is a ten-minute walk from there along the Corso Cavour.

The cathedral is open daily, with hours that shorten in winter and lengthen in summer. The nave is free; the Cappella di San Brizio and the Cappella del Corporale require a combined ticket from the MODO museum office, which also covers the diocesan museum and several annexed sites.

— about the piece in your home

It's been a meaningful gift for many of our customers with ties to Umbria. The Duomo is one of the most recognised silhouettes in central Italy, and the gold-and-stripe façade reads warmly even from across a room. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note from the studio carries well; a Keepsake on a stand works as a desk piece.

The colour palette of gold leaf, black basalt, warm white stone, and deep blue sits well in Old-World Maximalist, Italianate, and Jewel-Tone Traditional rooms. The piece anchors a quieter wall in a Sacred-Art Collector setting just as readily, where one bold image carries the room.

Both Old-World Maximalism and Sacred-Art Collector interiors have moved back toward mainstream visibility in design coverage over the past few years. The Orvieto piece reads as a serious anchor in either: recognisably Italian, recognisably devotional, with the gold giving a room a focal point without needing additional ornament.

Above a standard three-seat sofa or a console, a single Large reads strong on a quiet wall. For a more substantial statement, a 4-tile Mural at roughly 32 by 32 inches frames well above a longer console or low sideboard, and a 9-tile Mural fills a feature wall.

Yes. For damp rooms (bathrooms, kitchens, mudrooms), choose the Dura Satin or Matte finish rather than Glossy. Both resist water and steam, are scratch-resistant, and can be installed as a backsplash or hung as a tile panel. The colour stays in the surface either way.

A soft microfibre cloth and warm water are enough for daily care. For deeper cleaning, a little mild dish soap is fine. Avoid abrasive scrubbers, bleach, and oven cleaner. The colour is infused into the ceramic surface and sits beneath the finish, so it does not lift or fade with normal cleaning.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is original artwork by Reid Wender and the studio. Nothing is licensed and nothing is stock. We work as a single family studio in Knoxville, Tennessee, hand-finishing each tile before it ships.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

Hand-picked by the eye that found Sorapis. Same air, same kind of quiet.
— a collection

The Italian Dolomites,
painted slow.

The valleys between Cortina and Val Gardena, the tarns you walk an hour to see, the towers that turn the colour of a banked fire just before dark. Wander the collection by valley, by season, or follow the path Reid walked.

Tre Cime
Braies
Misurina
Sorapis
Cinque Torri
Sassolungo
Marmolada