San Giovanni Battista

About

A church or oratory is cited to be present at the site since the 13th century, when it was staffed by Augustinian priests from the nearby ancient convent of San Jacopo di Aquaviva. The original oratory may be the same as one once dedicated to St Anthony Abbot. The church we see today is mainly due to a 1624 reconstruction using designs of Giovanni Francesco Cantagallina, brother of Remigio. The church facade awkwardly rises, tall and narrow, and is peppered with Mannerist, often contradictory, touches such as a rounded tympanum, a rectangular, scroll-like frame for an oval oculus. The marble portal is ornate, yet the facade is otherwise sober in its pilasters. The nave windows loom awkwardly on the flanks, and a second elegant portal is placed on the flank. The church was damaged again by earthquakes in 1742 and 1814, and underwent repairs in 1833. The Augustinian monks were expelled by Granduke Pietro Leopoldo in 1785, but they were allowed to return in 1856.

Beside the main altar is a canvas of St Joseph and the Lactating Madonna with infant, transferred here from the suppressed church of the Purification of Mary; two other canvases on the lateral walls depict the Martyrdom of…