San Giovanni dei Fiorentini
From the Arno to the Tiber Here John the Baptist
the protector of Florence is the patron named. A Medici pope sanctioned its latin cross shape but lost Raphael. From that grand city proud of its art and culture Dante was exiled. An epidemic of plague and sweating sickness prompted this vast church and a hospital and hostel for Florentines, largesse from bankers. The ceiling is bare, a monochrome barrel vault. Chapels hide the art. Borromini lies here, a suicide, who built much of Baroque Rome. Did he, as I do, search maps for sanctuary that may not exist? From the oculus a dove floats in the light-gray and white cupola. Will wisdom be shared, if paradise speaks through art so geometric? Beyond my blurred sight letters shaped like seraphim are written in flames. The Baptist’s preaching spreads into infinity an alien voice. What sacred words meant has been scattered on the ground -- footprints scorched with blood. So who is now called,, known in broken syllables while thunder listens? What is real we know is all around us if we would only see it. We could abolish the divide of visible and invisible. Rectangular piers are painted here to appear as gray-veined marble. This artistic trick clues us to transfer our gaze to find secret shapes. As I still struggle my terror from pure light shows what will burn away. |
This church, ranked as a minor basilica, is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, the patron of Florence, and functions as the official church of Florentines in Rome, serving at times as a refuge historically for those forced into exile from that often divided city. Pope Leo X di Medici, a scion of that Florentine family, initiated a competition for architectural designs, and at various times Raphael and much later Michelangelo submitted plans for a church with a centralized interior arrangement, eventually transformed into a Latin cross layout. It includes a Baroque technique of "hidden light", later employed for dramatic effect by Bernini and others. Borromini also took a hand in modifying the design