Church of San Giovanni Battista Decollato

A beautiful 16th-century church at the foot of the Capitol, with a very special history linked to the Confraternita della Misericordia (Confraternity of Mercy), a pious union of Florentines whose aim was that of ministering to condemned criminals and of giving them a Christian burial after their execution. Founded in 1488, the Confraternity numbered among its members famous names such as Michelangelo and Vasari, as well as popes Clement VIII, Urban VIII and Clement XII and, from 1540, it was granted the privilege of freeing one sentenced to death each year. Among their most famous “patients”, as the condemned were defined, there was also Giordano Bruno, who was burned in Campo de’ Fiori in 1600.

The church is quite simple, with a brick façade and a portal surmounted by the inscription “Per misericordia”, “For mercy”. The interior has a single nave with side altars, three on each side, and frescoes by Tuscan artists of the late 16th century. The splendid ceiling is in blue and gold coffered squares, decorated with crosses and Florentine lilies, while the head of St. John the Baptist is depicted in the center. The altarpiece by Giorgio Vasari “The Beheading of the Baptist” between two columns of green breccia marble adorns the presbytery. The decoration in precious marble, stucco and gilding of the presbytery is from the 18th century; the floor of the church in polychrome marble also dates back to this time.

The Confraternity oratory form a single architectural complex with the church and the cloister. The side walls above the stalls have a beautiful series of Mannerist frescoes with a pictorial representation of the life of St John, painted by a group of Florentine artists including Jacopino del Conte, Francesco Salviati and Pirro Ligorio. Some says that the bearded character present in the “Visitation” is the portrait of Michelangelo. On the right side, the beautiful window shutter by Salviati is surmounted by festoons made up of flowers and fruits, including some from the newly discovered New World.

Surrounded on three sides by a portico that recalls Florentine Renaissance architecture, the cloister is decorated with two twin wooden altars, perhaps designed by Michelangelo. On the floor there are still the seven hatches (six for men and one for women) through which the bodies of the executed were lowered, covered with marble manholes on which was written: “DOMINE CUM VENERIS JUDICARE NOLI NOS CONDEMNARE” (“Lord, when you come to judge me do not condemn me”). A steep staircase in one of the arcades leads to the Camera Storica, a little museum which preserves the basket where the young head of Beatrice Cenci fell, the death sentence of Giordano Bruno, the large crucifix that opened the processions to the gallows and the stretcher with which the brothers brought back the body of the executed.