duomo

The Duomo of Milan.

Duomo is a generic Italian term for a cathedral church. The formal word for a church that is presently a cathedral is cattedrale; a Duomo may be either a present or a former cathedral (the latter always in a town that no longer has a bishop nor therefore a cathedral, as for example Trevi). Such churches are usually referred to simply as "Il Duomo" or "The Duomo", without regard to the full proper name of the church. Similar words exist in other languages: Dom (German), Dóm (Slovakian), Dôme (French), Domkirke (Danish), Dómkirkja (Icelandic), Domkyrka (Swedish), Domkyrkje (Norwegian), Doms (Latvian), Toomkirik (Estonian), Tum (Polish), and Tuomiokirkko (Finnish). Also in these languages the respective terms do not necessarily refer to a church functioning as a cathedral, but also to proto-cathedrals or simply prominent church buildings, which have never been a cathedral in the exact sense of that word. In German the term Dom became the synecdoche, used - pars pro toto - for most existing or former collegiate churches. Therefore the uniform translation of these terms into English as cathedrals may not always be appropriate.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word duomo derives from the Latin word "domus", meaning house, as a cathedral is the "house of God", or domus Dei.

Italian cathedrals are often highly decorated and contain notable artworks; in many cases the buildings themselves are true artworks. Perhaps the best known Duomo is Milan Cathedral, but other well-known cathedrals include San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome and those of Alba, Ancona, Mantua, Parma and Florence's Santa Maria del Fiore. Other notable examples are in Cefalù, Cremona, Enna, L'Aquila, Modena, Monreale, Naples, Genoa, Orvieto, Padua, Piazza Armerina, Pisa (the Leaning Tower is the Duomo's bell-tower), Prato, San Gimignano, Siena, Spoleto, Turin and Viterbo.

The Duomo of Amalfi	Duomo of Ancona	The Duomo of Asti	The Duomo of Atessa
The Duomo of Bari	The Duomo of Bitonto	The Duomo of Catania	The Duomo of Como
The Duomo of Cremona	The Duomo of Ferrara	Duomo of Florence	The Duomo of Massa Marittima
The Duomo of Matera	Duomo di Mantova	Duomo di Modena	Duomo di Monreale
Duomo of Montalcino	The Duomo of Monza	The Duomo of Naples	Duomo di Orvieto
The Duomo of Parma	Duomo di Pisa	The Duomo of Reggio Calabria	Duomo di San Martino
The Duomo of Siena	The Duomo of Trento	Duomo di Torino	The Duomo of Udine