The Mother Church of St. John the Baptist is the historical and religious heart of Striano, a reference point for understanding the identity of the place and the role that religious tradition has played in the daily life of the community.
The Church of St. John the Baptist is located in the center of the town of Striano, overlooking Piazza IV Novembre, and holds a long history that combines the medieval origins of the community with the profound transformations that have taken place over the centuries.
The first news about the area dates back to the 11th century, when Striano appears among the territories of the diocese of Sarno. Where the present structure stands today, the landscape was very different in ancient times: ancient documents describe a territory marked by the presence of marshy areas, where it found an older church dedicated to
In the 16th century, the old medieval church gave way to the new temple dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The construction, completed around the mid-sixteenth century, marked a pivotal moment of passage, still remembered today by the stone epigraphs preserved inside the building.
The present appearance of the church is the result of various interventions and reconstructions necessitated by natural and wartime events. The bell tower was rebuilt following the eruption of Vesuvius in 1737, and the facade was renovated using lava stone. Extensive damage occurred during World War II, and the church suffered further injuries with the 1980 earthquake. Subsequent works and its reopening testify to the religious and social importance the building has had over the centuries for the community, which has built around the church a web of relationships, patronal festivals, processions and moments of sharing.
The artistic journey: the interior
Crossing the threshold of the church, one enters a large and bright room set on a Latin cross plan. The space is marked by side chapels framed by vertical decorative elements that support the vaulted roof. In the center, at the meeting point between the nave and the transverse arm (transept), rises the hemispherical dome, whose natural light illuminates the chancel area, the area of the high altar.
The art collection housed in the church ranges from the Renaissance to the 20th century. The most outstanding work is an oil-painted altarpiece dated 1506: depicting the Madonna and Child between Saints Severinus and Sossio, it was made by Protasio Crivelli and is a pictorial document of great interest to the area.
Several polychrome wooden sculptures of the Campanian school can be seen in the side chapels, including a 15th-century Madonna of Constantinople and a St. Anthony of Padua dating from 1684. The walls are also adorned with 18th-century canvases, such as those signed by F. Morelli and Andrea Scalera. Also from the church’s treasury comes a 12th-century silver cross, now kept in the diocesan museum “San Prisco,” a precious testimony to the community’s oldest roots.
Also worth a stop is the church sacristy , where recent restorations have enhanced the 18th-century frescoes on the vault, in harmony with the walnut-root wooden furnishings. On the balcony above the main entrance is the large pipe organ inaugurated in 2000, a remarkable instrument that accompanies liturgical celebrations with its sonority.
Outside, on Piazza IV Novembre, stands the bell tower, rebuilt in its present form in the 1950s. The structure has three levels and is complemented by a dome on top of which the cross was restored and illuminated in the late 1990s. A concert of 14 bells, mixing historical pieces with more recent elements, regulates the rhythms and highlights of community life.
