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THE CHURCH OF SAN GIOVANNI BATTISTA

The church of San Giovanni Battista rises in the upper part of the village, preceded by a vast paved square, with the northern part of the building leaning against the hill.
There are two important dates for the temple. 1340, the year of construction at the behest of Antonio Fieschi, bishop of Luni, at the beginning of his vicariate, as indicated by the inscription on the plaque on the right side of the church; and 1870, when the building was heavily renovated with a neo-Gothic façade.
The original plant is the work of the Antelami Masters, of Lombard origin, admirable in the rose window in Carrara marble and precisely on the right side, with the single lancet windows and the two Gothic doors preceded by short stairways, surmounted by lunettes decorated with zoomorphic and anthropomorphic elements. The neo-Gothic aspect is therefore due to the nineteenth-century restructuring, when the façade was rebuilt, however, relocating the original rose window, and the church extended by a span.
The salient façade therefore reflects the basilica plan with three naves, with a main portal decorated with phytomorphic motifs and two smaller side portals, all with pointed arches, the main one with a lunette without decoration. It is framed by four slopes with corner pillars which host four statues symmetrically in the middle order, between the rose window and two lateral mullioned windows. The upper part ends with a blind mullioned window, surmounted by a statue of Christ the Redeemer.
The three naves inside are separated by elegant ogival arches. Along the left wall there are three rectangular chapels, along the right one there are the entrances. The presbytery opens into a main chapel, enclosed between two communicating side chapels.
Among the works of art preserved are a wooden crucifix by Maragliano, a canvas of the Preaching of the Baptist attributed to Domenico Fiasella and a triptych in the right aisle attributed to Benedetto Antelami depicting the Madonna and Child and Saints Rocco and Sebastian of the fifteenth century, a 16th century bas-relief depicting San Martino on horseback, a fine 18th-century pulpit and an Agati mechanical organ from 1851.

The church of San Giovanni Battista