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The Baptistery of San Giovanni is a building mentioned in ancient texts since 1292 and located in the center of the Murata, the citadel that dominates the historic center of Castrocaro Terme.
It has a circular plan with a façade in brick and ashlars and a small bell gable. Inside there is an interesting Byzantine sarcophagus-basin, used for baptismal immersions: it is in Istrian marble, clearly derived from Ravenna, sculpted in bas-relief between the 7th and 8th centuries AD.
On the wall of the altar there are traces of a fresco, perhaps dating back to the 15th century, depicting St. John baptising the Redeemer. On another wall, is a seventeenth-century altarpiece with a coeval frame: the painting on canvas, dated 1643, depicts the Baptism of Jesus.
The Baptistery is open on the Sunday after Easter, on the occasion of Our Lady of Flowers, and for St John, on 24 June, to whom it is dedicated.
Source: “Castrocaro. Il patrimonio artistico, architettonico e ambientale di Castrocaro, Terra del Sole e Pieve Salutare”, di Elio Caruso ed Elisabetta Caruso. Società editrice “Il Ponte” di Cesena (FC) – 2019
