Basilica di San Giovanni Battista dei Fiorentini

San Giovanni Battista dei Fiorentini is the basilica of Rome's Florentine community beside the Tiber. Its long construction involved several major architects, while its dedication honours Florence's patron saint.

Why it matters

The church expresses the presence and patronage of the Florentine nation within papal Rome. It also preserves the burials of Carlo Maderno and Francesco Borromini, linking its architecture with the personal histories of two major figures of the Roman Baroque.

What to notice

Alessandro Galilei's eighteenth-century travertine facade stands before an interior shaped by earlier campaigns. Maderno's elongated dome gives the church a distinctive profile. The high altar and Falconieri chapel connect the work of Pietro da Cortona, Borromini and Antonio Raggi. Other chapels preserve painting and funerary sculpture commissioned by prominent benefactors.

Context and history

The Florentine confraternity provided the institutional background to the project begun under Julius II and continued under Leo X. Sansovino, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and Giacomo della Porta contributed to successive stages before Maderno's later work. The facade was completed in 1734. The building's history therefore extends beyond its sixteenth-century origins into major Baroque and eighteenth-century additions.