THE INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH OF SAN GIOVANNI

 

The interior of the church is characterized by the Baroque restorations of the seventeenth-eighteenth century. The 1999 restorations, led by the Superintendency of Architectural Heritage of Calabria, have restored the original airy, sober and bright appearance.

The original layout with a single nave has been integrated since the 16th century by the construction of the side chapels, which preserve important testimonies of art and worship and culminate in the two chapels of the transept, dedicated to the Madonna of Constantinople and to San Giovanni Battista (each chapel is described by a special panel).

The large dome is decorated with frescoes made in 1910 by the Crotone painter Sesto Bruno. The eight sails reproduce episodes from the life of St. John the Baptist and scenes from the Apocalypse of St. John the Evangelist.

The floor dates back to recent restorations, which brought to light some underground rooms (mass graves and noble tombs). A cistern dug into the tuff, now hidden again, was found in the ground just below the dome, suggesting that, before the church was built, the castle courtyard was in that place.

Pre-existing masonry works have also emerged. Worthy of note, in the cavity in the center of the church, on the right side, are the traces of a fresco depicting the Holy Virgin with the Child , which could be an ancient depiction of the Madonna of Constantinople, prior to the construction of the church .