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It was a time of great prosperity and strong political influence on the surrounding territories, when Orvieto expanded its power, over the so-called "subjected lands", as far as the present-day Orbetello and Talamone, on the Tyrrhenian Sea. This lasted until the fights between the two opposite sides of the Filippeschi and the Monaldeschi, the concentration of both civil and religious powers in the hands of the clergy and the annexation to the Papal States put an end to the experience of the free Municipality half-way through the fourteenth century. This marked the beginning of a new age of decline, made even more serious by the onset of black plague in 1348. It is true that the Albornoz Fortress was built in those times in the vicinity of Porta Postierla, on request of Pope Innocenzo VI, but more as a symbol of the impregnability of certain territories than as an actual need, therefore this event must be seen as detached from the general context. What is true is that only the Duomo worksite remained propellant for a long time and attracted various and important artistic personalities who, while contributing to the Cathedral worksite, also gave their support, on occasions, to other works in the town: from Lorenzo Maitani to Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, from Orcagna to Luca Signorelli, Taddeo and Federico Zuccari, to Pomarancio, Gerolamo Muziano, Ippolito Scalza and, later, Cesare Nebbia and Francesco Mochi, to the more recent contributions by Emilio Greco, who gave the Cathedral its monumental bronze doors, that were mounted in 1970.
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