Description
The Church of Santi Giovanni ed Agostino is the parish church of the Torretto district, in the heart of La Spezia's old town. Born as the oratory of a confraternity, it holds a 16th-century altarpiece by Bernardino Lanino and a dome covered in slate.
The gabled façade is simple, with four pilasters and a pediment. Above the portal, decorated with bronze panels, a niche holds a statue of the Madonna and Child.
Inside there is a single nave 40 meters long, 7.50 wide and 14 high. Over the semicircular apse rises the 17th-century dome, covered in herringbone slate and topped by a lantern.
The most precious work is Bernardino Lanino's altarpiece with the Madonna and saints, from the 16th century: a version of it is in the National Gallery in London. Next to it is a Madonna of Suffrage attributed to Domenico Fiasella.
Also look at the 16th-century shell-shaped baptismal font, two large 18th-century crucifixes and the organ by the Serassi brothers from 1823, restored several times. The bronze door, the Stations of the Cross and the fresco of the Baptism of Jesus are by Marcello Tommasi.
The church grew out of the oratory of St. John the Baptist Beheaded, seat of the Confraternita Mortis et Orationis. It was a modest building, which over time received the dome and, in 1727, the marble altar, recorded by a Latin inscription.
Around the oratory grew the Cittadella district, with the palaces of La Spezia's noble families such as the Biassa, the De Nobili and the Da Passano. Many altars belonged to the leading families of the city and of Lunigiana, who furnished them with altarpieces and church furnishings.
With the arrival of Napoleon the oratory became an ammunition depot. Briefly reopened in 1799, it was requisitioned again after the Battle of Marengo and only returned to worship in 1816.
In 1886 it became a parish, and the name of St. Augustine was added to that of St. John. It was a reminder of the nearby Augustinian convent, founded in 1390 and closed in 1797, the first religious settlement in the city. The friars had come from an older monastery, in Vezzano Alto.
Don't miss
• Bernardino Lanino's altarpiece.
• The slate dome.
• The shell-shaped baptismal font.
• The Serassi organ.
Did you know?
• In 1781 Pope Pius VI granted a perpetual plenary indulgence to anyone who visited the oratory: a plaque above the side door records it.
• The bombings of World War II razed almost the entire city to the ground, but this church remained intact.
The gabled façade is simple, with four pilasters and a pediment. Above the portal, decorated with bronze panels, a niche holds a statue of the Madonna and Child.
Inside there is a single nave 40 meters long, 7.50 wide and 14 high. Over the semicircular apse rises the 17th-century dome, covered in herringbone slate and topped by a lantern.
The most precious work is Bernardino Lanino's altarpiece with the Madonna and saints, from the 16th century: a version of it is in the National Gallery in London. Next to it is a Madonna of Suffrage attributed to Domenico Fiasella.
Also look at the 16th-century shell-shaped baptismal font, two large 18th-century crucifixes and the organ by the Serassi brothers from 1823, restored several times. The bronze door, the Stations of the Cross and the fresco of the Baptism of Jesus are by Marcello Tommasi.
The church grew out of the oratory of St. John the Baptist Beheaded, seat of the Confraternita Mortis et Orationis. It was a modest building, which over time received the dome and, in 1727, the marble altar, recorded by a Latin inscription.
Around the oratory grew the Cittadella district, with the palaces of La Spezia's noble families such as the Biassa, the De Nobili and the Da Passano. Many altars belonged to the leading families of the city and of Lunigiana, who furnished them with altarpieces and church furnishings.
With the arrival of Napoleon the oratory became an ammunition depot. Briefly reopened in 1799, it was requisitioned again after the Battle of Marengo and only returned to worship in 1816.
In 1886 it became a parish, and the name of St. Augustine was added to that of St. John. It was a reminder of the nearby Augustinian convent, founded in 1390 and closed in 1797, the first religious settlement in the city. The friars had come from an older monastery, in Vezzano Alto.
Don't miss
• Bernardino Lanino's altarpiece.
• The slate dome.
• The shell-shaped baptismal font.
• The Serassi organ.
Did you know?
• In 1781 Pope Pius VI granted a perpetual plenary indulgence to anyone who visited the oratory: a plaque above the side door records it.
• The bombings of World War II razed almost the entire city to the ground, but this church remained intact.