San Giovanni in Valle is a Romanesque-style, Catholic church located on the street of the same name in Verona, region of Veneto, Italy.
San Giovanni is one of the oldest churches in Verona, it arose on the site of a pagan necropolis and a Roman temple. Little or nothing is known about the early building, however some elements, such as its location in the area where the castrum of Theodoric the Great stood (in the vallum of the castle, hence the name), suggest that in the beginning it may have been the Arian cathedral of Verona, as opposed to the Catholic church of Santo Stefano. In any case, only part of the present crypt remains of this early church, as the rest of the building was severely damaged in the earthquake that struck Verona in 1117. As early as 1120 the reconstruction of what would later be the present building in the Romanesque style began, while in 1164 its consecration took place at the hands of the bishop of Verona Ognibene. During the Middle Ages a collegiate church of clerics also resided there. In 1300 it was decided to enlarge the hall of the building by lengthening the nave by one bay, the pre-existing narthex was then incorporated into the church and the facade rebuilt from scratch. During the following centuries the building did not undergo any other major transformations, however, it was deeply damaged during a World War II bombing raid; at the end of the conflict, therefore, it underwent extensive restoration.
The church building, which is one of the masterpieces of Veronese Romanesque style, is characterized by a basilica plan divided into three naves by the alternation of pillars and columns, while the vertical development is on three levels: a raised presbytery, the hall and the lower crypt. Of notable value are the elegant carved capitals placed to crown the columns. The walls, once entirely frescoed, now show only a few fragments of paintings ruined by time and moisture. In the crypt, next to the high altar, are kept two valuable sarcophagi: one dating from the 4th century features a bas-relief sculpture on three sides in two overlapping orders with stories from the Old and New Testament narrated and in which tradition holds the relics of the apostles Simon the Canaanite and Judas Thaddeus; the other, which is older (2nd or 3rd century), is a strigilated sarcophagus from the pagan period with depictions in the center of two spouses in a shell above a rural scene and with two figures of philosophers later transformed into Christian saints on either side.
The complex is completed by a bell tower, Romanesque in its lower part and of Renaissance style in its upper part, a cloister of which only one wing remains, and the rectory that was once the seat of the collegiate church and is now one of the oldest civil buildings to be found in the city.
History
Origins Findings in the area of terracotta funerary urns show that the church of San Giovanni in Valle stands in the area where there was once a pagan necropolis and perhaps also a small Roman temple dedicated to the Sun God. There is no precise documentary or archaeological information about when the first church dedicated to John the Baptist was built: according to the historian Grancelli this was in the early Christian period, probably around the beginning of the fourth century, when the church of Santo Stefano and the church of St. Peter in Castello (no longer extant today) were also built; the historian Guido Barbetta, on the other hand, believes that this dating should be delayed by a few decades, towards the end of the century. However, there are doubts about both of these theories due to the absence of irrefutable evidence.
Due to the fact that it stands not far from the castrum erected by Theodoric the Great and also later used by the Lombards, many believe that this may have been an Arian cathedral, as opposed to the aforementioned church of Santo Stefano, which may have been the Catholic one. In addition, the Arian Lombards were very devoted to St. John, and at the time of the schism of the three chapters (between the 6th and 7th centuries) there was a strong presence of the Arian heresy in Verona, and therefore it is very likely that there was a cathedral dedicated to their beliefs.
According to this supposition, following the conversion of the Lombards to Catholicism at the end of the 7th century, the church of San Giovanni must have been consecrated to Christian orthodoxy, as is evidenced by its mention in the famous Versus de Verona, a poem describing Verona and its churches in the early Middle Ages. Further confirmation of this comes from a document by Bishop Rotaldo dating from 813, at the time of the reign of Pepin of Italy, in which it is attested that San Giovanni was a Christian parish church equipped with a baptismal font. Bishop Rotaldo again received a privilege from Emperor Louis the Pious on June 13, 820, in which the church of San Giovanni in Valle was described as a simple oratorium, showing that it had lost its importance.
From the Romanesque-style reconstruction to the present In any case, this primitive church was largely destroyed as a result of the devastating earthquake of 1117; only a part of the crypt, which still exists today, was saved, presumably, and more precisely the front part supported by columns in addition to the apses. Reconstruction began in 1120, only three years after the earthquake, going on to create what would later become the present building, which was consecrated in 1164 by the bishop of Verona Ognibene. Regarding the architectural style of the reconstructed building, architectural historian Wart Arslan remarked that "with San Giovanni in Valle, Verona's Romanesque architecture shows that it has now elaborated a type that will be constant in its choicest maturity."
From about 1205 it became a parish, and began to serve as a shelter for pilgrims, of which a first mention is dated to 1069. Although it was dependent on the canons of the cathedral it owned land in the monasteries of St. Nazaro e Celso and San Paolo. In a document dated 10 February 1114 a certain Bonvicino, presbyter of the church, received the lease of a house and some fields to be used for the hospice. In 1189 Bishop Adelardo Cattaneo granted an indulgence of forty days to anyone who would bear the expenses for the upkeep of the complex.
In 1204, when San Giovanni was a parish with a baptismal font, with the right to tithe, and a collegiate of clerics was associated with the church, a long dispute with the cathedral chapter began. It was then customary that once the clerics elected their own archpresbyter, he had to report to the cathedral; however, having elected a certain Augustine, they decided to reject this practice. The dispute was so severe that Pope Innocent III had to intervene. The ruling, which was moreover in favor of the canons, had to wait for 16 years. In a later deed of lease of 1292 it is reiterated that clerics and priests of San Giovanni lived a common life by eating at the same table. In 1392 the church was called a "monastery" because of the "semblance of monastic life" that was led here.
In 1300 the Romanesque facade was rebuilt, setting it back from the previous one in order to increase the capacity of the church by lengthening the nave by about one bay and by incorporating the narthex. In 1395 what were believed to be the bodies of Saints Simon and Judas were found, and on April 13 of the same year solemn celebrations were held with the consecration of an altar dedicated to them.
Between the middle of the 18th century and the first decades of the 20th, the church changed its role in the diocese of Verona several times. In fact, in 1756, thanks to Pope Benedict XIV's constitution Regis pacifici vices, San Giovanni in Valle was freed from the authority of the canons of the cathedral to be subject directly to that of the bishop. On 18 December 1807 it momentarily ceased to be a parish to become a subsidiary of Santa Maria in Organo; however, in 1919 it became a parish again, with a plaque placed on the left side near the entrance recalling this circumstance.
During a World War II bombing on the night of 10 October 1944, the church of San Giovanni in Valle was hit and seriously damaged. A number of deaths and injuries were also reported among the population in the crypt, which was then used as an air raid shelter. Once the conflict ended, it was promptly restored: the occasion was also taken to restore the small Romanesque-style windows and to remove the larger windows dating back to the 17th century, and on 10 October 1945 Bishop Girolamo Cardinale was able to reconsecrate the high altar.
Description
Exterior The church of San Giovanni in Valle stands in the eastern part of the city of Verona, on the opposite bank of the Adige River from that on which the ancient center is located. It was possibly built within the vallum of the castle of Theodoric the Great, hence the name "in Valle." The building dates from the first half of the 13th century while the facade was rebuilt in 1300 following the decision to enlarge the interior. An example of typical Veronese Romanesque architecture, the building is placed with the usual, at the time, west-east orientation. In addition to the facade, the apses and in particular the north (left) apsidiole are of notable interest, while the side walls do not have any notable features. Complementing the complex are an ancient cloister, of which only a few rests remain, a bell tower built in different periods, and the rectory.
Facade
To the west, the church of San Giovanni in Valle has a simple salient tripartite facade, made of medium-sized ashlars of tuff that alternate with blocks of maiolica at the highest part, a typical example of the Veronese Romanesque style reminiscent of the facades of the parish church of San Floriano (in Valpolicella), the church of San Severo (in Bardolino) and the abbey of San Pietro in Villanova (San Bonifacio).
The entrance portal opens in the center, enclosed in a Gothic frame of red dice marble, surmounted by a small hanging prothyrum resting on two small columns. The lunette underneath the prothyrum preserves remains of a fresco, depicting a Madonna seated on a throne with a baby Jesus on her knees attributed to Stefano da Verona. Also depicted next to the Madonna are, on the right, St. Bartholomew holding a book and, on the left, St. Anthony Abbot. The composition is completed by three medallions divided by a frieze, painted on the intrados of the prothyrum, inside of which are the figures of St. John the Baptist, the Paschal Lamb, and the Prophet Isaiah, all most likely made by the same author of the lunette.
The sun's rays hitting the facade reach the interior of the church through two Romanesque single-lancet windows that open on either side of the portal at the side aisles and from a mullioned window at the top center above the prothyrum: these openings still preserve the primitive illumination of the interior spaces, where a dim light creates a thick penumbra and a calm-looking environment. The attic is decorated by a fine frieze with saw-tooth rampant arches sheltered by large stone slabs placed to protect the overhangs.
Restored in the second half of the twentieth century with the removal of later additions, the facade visible today dates back to the fourteenth century, that is, to when it was decided to lengthen the church by one bay by incorporating the narthex, which was therefore lost in favor of the elevation still present today. In this regard Wart Arslan notes that "in the 14th century, with a respect for the ancient of which we do not have many examples, the church was lengthened, adding an additional bay while preserving the profile of the older facade, carefully restoring the crowning with arches to the new construction."
Apses