St. John the Baptist Church

The church and monastery were built by Baroness Philippa of Cosenza in the fourteenth century. The coat of arms on the facade, depicting a lion rampant, crowned by a papal tiara, reproduces the weapon of Pope Paul II. Inside there are numerous medieval wall paintings depicting saints, albeit in poor condition; in one of those paintings they recognize St. Benedict and St. Barsanofio. The original Romanesque building was incorporated into a large Baroque complex which was the monastery of the Celestine Fathers, built in the seventeenth century. In 1912 the monastery of the Celestini was demolished to give space to the current elementary school “Edmondo De Amicis”. Almost simultaneously was demolished a portico of sixteen arches front of the church: according to tradition here occurred the “San Giovanni Dance”, which took place on the night between 23 and 24 June agreed that the entire population of the district; this practice was prohibited in the sixteenth century under the Marquis of Borromeo, as deemed immoral. Today remains only the church, which is currently not used for worship, being used as an auditorium or as exhibition space (in recent years during the summer hosted the exhibition of Palios of the Tournament of the Districts), according to the basilica of the cathedral parish needs who owns it.