Italy: Cinque Terre Part 15 - The Church of San Giovanni Battista Monterosso: During our walk through Monterosso, we paused to visit The Church of Sain John The Baptist. We were...

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Italy: Cinque Terre Part 15 - The Church of San Giovanni Battista Monterosso

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Nov 11, 2023 15:30:07 #

srfmhg Loc: Marin County, CA

During our walk through Monterosso, we paused to visit The Church of Sain John The Baptist. We were fascinated by the architecture, especially the alternating slabs of white and green marble.

THE CHURCH OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST
The church of San Giovanni Battista was built between 1244 and 1307, the date inscribed on a rock in the second column on the left looking towards the altar. Remodeled in the Baroque period and more recently between 1963 and 1964, it is a splendid example of Genoese Ligurian Gothic.
The façade is made of alternating vestments of white marble and dark green serpentine, with a slightly splayed pointed portal, flanked by a double pair of marble columns and surmounted by a lunette with an 18th century fresco depicting the Baptism of Christ. The splendid central rose window in white marble is a splendid example of ornate Gothic, attributed to Matteo and Pietro da Campiglio. From the central button, eighteen smooth and twisted columns radiate alternating from which intertwined trefoil arches branch off.
With a basilica plan with three naves, it has a progressive narrowing of the width of the aisles towards the entrance, with the dual effect of creating a perspective illusion and favoring the propagation of sound waves. Inside are preserved the baptismal font from 1360, a canvas of the Madonna del Rosario from the school of Luca Cambiaso, a painting depicting the Crucifixion by an unknown artist, probably a Genoese painter from the 17th century and the high altar from 1734. One of the columns bears an inscription engraved in medieval characters.

The bell tower with Ghibelline battlements rises alongside the apse area, an ancient medieval control tower with a rectangular plan, opened by Gothic mullioned windows with arches decorated with denticles, raised in the 15th century and remodeled in the 18th century after an earthquake.
https://www.lecinqueterre.org/eng/arte/montebattista.php

For additional images from the drive through La Spezia and Porto Venere as well as images of the five villages from the ferry ride, please see my previous posts. The last post includes a description of the places of interest in Monterosso.
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-789349-1.html#14224070
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-789440-1.html#14226109
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-789648-1.html
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-789843-1.html#14233553
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-789942-1.html
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-790111-1.html
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-790407-1.html#14245176
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-790582-1.html
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-790774-1.html#14253600
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-790885-1.html
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-791072-1.html#14259965
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-791170-1.html#14262740
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-791259-1.html#14264600
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-791463-1.html
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-791640-1.html#14273073

I hope you enjoy these!
Mark