Duomo Cathedral of Montecchio Maggiore
SANTA MARIA AND SAN VITALE CATHEDRAL
Known as Duomo of Montecchio Maggiore, the main cathedral in the town was built in seventh decade of nineteenth century by request from the archpriest Antonio Simionato. It is a perfect example of Neo-Gothic style built to accommodate the faithful who found little space in the previous year 1000 and a source of inspiration for most of the churches in the valleys of Chiampo and the surrounding Agno.
The Cathedral was officially consecrated on 21 August 1892. The building was constructed using stones extracted from the quarries of the hills above Montecchio Maggiore. Inside the church there are altars and works from the old demolished parish church. Among the relics stands out a fifteenth-century altarpiece by the painter from Vicenza Giovanni Antonio De Pieri, a fifteenth-century triptych in stone, nineteenth-century minor works and a recent Via Crucis, painted in the fourteenth-century style.
Near the church there was a small tower about 10 meters high, replaced in 1955 by a much more impressive bell tower 72 meters in height.
