Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Ragusa is one of the monuments included in the UNESCO serial site called "Late Baroque Cities of the Val di Noto." This imposing religious building has a history related to the reconstruction of the city after an earthquake and the birth of a "new" Ragusa. Akin to the Cathedral of San Giorgio in Ibla, the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist represents the cathedral of Upper Ragusa.The construction of Ragusa's Cathedral of St. John the Baptist began in the early 17th century. After the destruction caused by the 1693 earthquake, the bourgeoisie decided to rebuild the city from scratch in a new location, while the nobility of Ragusa chose to rebuild their palaces in the same place where they stood. The existing Church of St. John in Ibla was restored and reopened for worship, becoming the present Church of St. Agnes. In the new town, however, a new church was built, work on which began in 1694 and was completed the following year. However, the first version of the building proved too small for a constantly expanding area, so in 1708 new work was started to expand it, which was completed eleven years later. During the 18th century, interior stucco decorations were made, and in the following century decorations were added to the side chapels and frescoes to the dome.As for the exterior architecture of the church, the facade of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist of Ragusa is divided into five bays by six Corinthian columns. The majestic entrance portal is surmounted by an entablature with a broken curvilinear pediment, and in the center is a statue of the Immaculate Conception inside a niche. On either side of the portal are two statues, one depicting St. John the Evangelist and the other St. John the Baptist. In the second order of the elevation is a large central window between two sundials. The one on the left shows the time according to the Italian time zone (sunset to sunset), while the one on the right shows the time according to the French time zone (midnight to midnight). On the left side of the church stands a bell tower about 50 meters high, which has four levels and culminates in a spire. Initially, two bell towers were planned, but due to structural problems, the right bell tower was never built.Turning to the interior of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist of Ragusa, one can see that it has a Latin cross plan with three wide naves bordered by twelve Corinthian columns with gilded capitals. The floor, made in 1854, is composed of pitchstone with geometric inlays of white limestone. The stuccoes in the nave and side bays date from 1731 and are the work of the Gianforma brothers, pupils of Giacomo Serpotta. Along the aisles are several richly decorated chapels containing works of art. Prominent among them are a canvas depicting St. Philip Neri, painted by painter Sebastiano Conca of Gaeta, and a work entitled "Christ at the Column" by A. Manno. In the first chapel on the left, at the entrance, is a wooden statue of John the Baptist, which is carried in procession through the streets of Ragusa every year on August 29. This statue was made in the first half of the 19th century by local sculptor Carmelo Licitra. In the apse area, in a niche, is another statue of St. John dating from 1532. This statue, attributed to sculptor Angelo Retto, is made entirely of pitch stone and because of its black color is known by the people of Ragusa as "St. John the Black."The Cathedral of St. John of Ragusa also houses the Cathedral Museum, which includes seven exhibition rooms containing reliquaries saved from the earthquake and donations made over the centuries. In the first room it is possible to admire, among numerous works, a reliquary case in ivory and inlaid wood made by a famous Venetian workshop in the 14th century, as well as a silver pyx from the same period. The second room is devoted to objects of worship of St. John the Baptist and houses a reliquary chest made in 1731. Subsequent rooms feature various sacred vestments and objects of worship reaching back to the 20th century. The last section of the museum houses the exhibition "Sicilia Antiqua," a collection of maps, charts and paintings of Sicily from the 16th to the 19th century.