CHURCH OF SAN GIOVANNI

HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION

The church of San Giovanni, consecrated in 1149, is located to the right of what was once the building built by Ascanio Sforza in 1535, which was owned by the Observant Friars Minor in 1617 who made it their convent. The church, like the rest of the complex in which it is incorporated, has undergone numerous tampering over time, especially in the nineteenth century. The convent and church are now owned by the Municipality of Acquapendente and houses the retirement home for the elderly dedicated to San Giuseppe. The façade, in its essential gabled lines, has a small rectangular window placed above the portal, all closed at the top by a tympanum.

Two steps welcome the faithful who listen to the church. The single hall is divided into three bays by two pairs of symmetrically arranged pilasters. Two large arches, also symmetrically arranged on the sides of the hall near the entrance, frame two chapels. The first chapel on the right is decorated with a 17th century fresco with Santa Rita? Above the altar a modern statue of Saint Joseph with Child. Continuing towards the apse area, we find an epigraph on the right wall of the hall. A large arch frames the presbytery and the main altar, leaning against the apse area, is made through a large baroque machine decorated with polychrome marble and Ionic columns. Inside, a modern work depicting the Holy family. Two symmetrical doors open to the right and left of the main altar. Returning to the left wall, immediately after the door that gives access to the sacristy, we find a wooden pulpit, and after that the chapel of the Sacred Heart. Above the altar the modern statue of the Sacred Heart and in the back wall what remains of the decorations from the Baroque period. Framed by the stuccoes, the painted monogram IHS.

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

AA.VV., Acquapendente e il suo territorio. Regione Lazio, Assessorato alla Cultura, Spettacolo, Sport e Turismo. Direzione regionale cultura, sport e turismo, area valorizzazione del territorio e del patrimonio culturale. Avellino 2004.

Agostini, Le chiese di Acquapendente, Acquapendente 1987;

Rossi M., Cenni storici di Acquapendente. Viterbo 1989.

Pietro Paolo Biondi, Le Croniche di Acquapendente. Descrizione della terra d’Acquapendente con la sua antiquità, nobiltà, governo, usanze ed altre cose (ed. a stampa del manoscritto ddl 1588) Acquapendente 1984.

Le opere d’arte della chiesa di San Giovanni di Acquapendente sono state catalogate sui modelli inventariali nel 1993 dalla Soprintendenza BAS di Roma (Catalogratrice A. Capriotti); le schede sono state revisionate nel 2003 da P. Grassi per la Regione Lazio.

Costantini N., Memorie storiche di Acquapendente. Acquapendente, 1982.

Acquapendente città d’arte, Chiesa di San Giovanni.