1. Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist

The construction of the Church of Saint John the Baptist started, presumably, in 1720 and was completed in 1773. The project included the construction of a second bell tower on the right side. However, this was never completed. The church façade, consisting of two orders, is divided into five parts (Fig. a). The central one serves as the entrance to the main nave, whose door is delimited by two pairs of columns surmounted by a broken arch bearing the statues of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist on the sides and in the centre the statue of the Virgin Mary, located in a niche (Fig. b).
The construction is the work of two master builders from Acireale, although local workers may also have contributed. The church has a Latin cross floor plan, divided into three naves (Fig. c). Furthermore, the intersection between the central nave and the transept is surmounted by a dome, which in the mid-1800s was clad in copper due to continuous water infiltration (Fig. d).
Under the apse basin is the black statue of Saint John, from the old church (located in Ragusa Ibla) and destroyed by the earthquake.
In the second half of the 18th century, the Gianforma family added stucco and decorative features to the church’s vaults, as well as the walls of the transept.
Between 1931 and 1940, the master Salvatore Cascone frescoed the baptistery and decorated the dome with frescoes of the four Evangelists (Fig. e). In 1955, the master Carmelo Cappello created the bronze baptismal font.The church’s flooring is made in pitchstone with white limestone inserts (Fig. f). Inside is a large organ by the “Serassi” company, built around the mid-19th century, with an imposing “cantoria” (chancel) in carved and gilded wood placed above the entrance to the nave.
A large churchyard was built in front of the church, bordered by a pitchstone border, raised above a square onto which the loggias below the churchyard open.The Church of Saint John became a Cathedral in 1950 with the creation of the Diocese of Ragusa.