Taking the morning train from Florence, we disembarked at the station in Orvieto and boarded the funicular transporting visitors from the floor of the Tiber Valley to the heart of the city perched atop an extinct volcanic plateau. The end of the line was the Piazza del Duomo or Cathedral Square.

The distinctive façade of the travertine and granite church with its mosaics, pinnacles and sculpted marble immediately commands attention; but on that overcast day in March 2004, our ultimate destination was a special gallery opening about a block from the main square.