The Cathedral
Walking around the historical centre of Portogruaro, among “calli” and “piazzette”, distinguished palazzi façades and charming perspectives on the River Lemene, one would expect to find in the heart of the town a medieval church, in Romanesque or Gothic style, with the interior walls covered in frescos. Yet, when going along Corso Martiri Della Libertà, the main street in the centre, one reaches the St. Andrea Cathedral and cannot help being struck by the imposing brick structure, with three portals, but not finding in front of you the customary breathing space of a square. We go inside the cathedral and are again impressed by the grandeur and the monumentality, in neoclassical taste, of the interior. The building we admire today, consecrated in 1833, has taken the place of the original. With the 1586 papal bull, the bishop’s seat of Concordia was, in fact, transferred to Portogruaro: thus the old parish church, dedicated to the patron Saint Andrea, became a Co-cathedral (cathedral church), used for episcopal celebrations, also becoming the seat for liturgical services promoted by the Diocesan Chapter, and yet continuing, at the same time, to be the main parish church of the little town. A number sources and old testimonies help when trying to imagine the way the original church looked: a Gothic building with one nave and two aisles, and with an important fresco cycle of the 15th century by the painter Bartolomeo da Belluno, which, in the presbytery and apse area, depicted the stories of Christ, the Patron St. Andrew and St. John the Baptist. Furthermore, the original church was orientated to the east, with the altar looking towards the rising sun and the entrance towards the west, therefore, towards the River Lemene. At the end of the 18th century it was demolished and, on the same site, the huge monument we can observe today, in severe neoclassical architectural style, mindful of the Renaissance and Palladian precepts, was raised. The three portals of the façade correspond to the one nave and two aisles articulating the internal space, dominated by the light tones of the walls and the grey of frames, by the mouldings and the capitals. Along the lateral walls several marble altars framing numerous paintings, which cover a chronological span between the 16th and 18th century, of both the Venetian and Veneto schools, are set out. Among these are the important paintings at the High Altar depicting the Presentation at the Temple, carried out at the beginning of 16th century by Giovanni Martini, and the altarpiece of “San Rocco (2nd altar of the right aisle), attributed to the school of Palma il Giovane , also dated at the start of the 16th century; on the lower part of the canvas is one of the most ancient and interesting views of the town. The alterpiece depicting the L’Incredulità di San Tommaso (The incredulity of St. Thomas), 1st altar on the right, has a very particular story. The painting exhibited in the cathedral is actually a copy that the local painter Eugenio Bonò produced, at the end of the 19th century, from the original by Giambattista Cima da Conegliano. This famous Veneto painter accomplished the work at the very beginning of the 16th century for the local Brotherhood of San Tommaso Dei Battuti, a powerful and rich association which for several centuries ran the medical structures of the town. Today Portogruaro cannot boast the presence of such a precious work of art as, in 1870, it was given to the National Gallery in London: the town must content itself with the modest copy preserved in the cathedral.