Oratory of San Giovanni Decollato

The Oratory of San Giovanni Decollato, an authentic jewel of art and architecture, overlooks the ancient Piazza Maggiore

The square, today Piazza San Giovanni, retains the appearance of a courtyard of a feudal castle, with an open medieval well (14th century) on a cistern almost as wide as the square above.

Home to the Confraternity of the same name, it preserves valuable works of art by Giuseppe Bastiani known as Giuseppino da Macerata. Four stories from the Saint's life are depicted in the side lunettes: the Nativity – San Giovanni in the Desert – the Announcement to Zachariah – the Prison Visit of the disciples, while the Baptism stands out in the centre of the vault, divided into compartments by stucco frames and grotesques interrupted by small landscapes and folders with Latin inscriptions referring to the Baptist. 

The altarpiece on the high altar depicting his martyrdom is beautiful and is also the work of Bastiani. All the pathos of the depiction is concentrated on the head of the martyr saint, where the viewer's eyes inevitably rest. Two Baroque altars and valuable stuccoes, the work of two artists from Stroncone, the brothers Gregorio and Cristoforo Grimani, complete the interior of this church and artistically speaking are the most beautiful in the city of Stroncone.