The ancient baptismal church, built around the eleventh century and raised to the rank of cathedral in 1462 by Pope Pius II, was given the title of Santissimo Salvatore (Most Holy Savior) because it stood on the remains of a pagan temple dedicated to Jupiter the Savior. Anyone who wonders what it looked like should be told that the church of the Santissimo Salvatore was a Romanesque church which had a nave and two side aisles, terminating in three apses. The façade was pierced by three portals, one in the center and one on each side. Over the centuries the church underwent various transformations, until the decision was made to tear it down and build a new one, designed by the Sienese architect Agostino Fantastici, in the first decade of the nineteenth century.

All that remains of the ancient Cathedral is the remnants of the main portal, visible in the first chapel of the left aisle, called the chapel of the Baptistery. The reliefs, carved out of travertine, present the iconography typical for main portals of churches: Jesus Christ the Redeemer imparting His blessing, two angels holding incense burners, and the symbols of the four evangelists: the lion (Saint Mark), the man with wings (Saint Matthew), the eagle (Saint John the Evangelist), and the ox (Saint Luke). Christ himself said: “I am the door; anyone who enters through me will be safe” (John 10:9). The act of . . .