San Giovanni in Valle
The architectural phases of the building
THE EARLY MEDIEVAL CHURCH
There are few traces allowing us to reconstruct the form of the original church of San Giovanni.
The limited excavations carried out inside the church in the 1950s, near the altar steps, revealed a small section of the southern wall near the original presbytery. So the old church was not so wide, and its southern perimeter did not coincide with the present one, which dates back to the extension in the Late Middle Ages. Towards the north the wall of the church should correspond to the present wall, rebuilt in the 18th century. In the area of the original structure of the presbytery, two overlapping floors of crushed terracotta emerged. The upper one, more recent, was the result of a masonry reinforcement leaning against the inside of the perimeter which was interpreted as a reorganization of the presbytery area, revising the size of the space, and perhaps with a bench running along the perimeter walls and a floor placed at a higher level than the main body of the church. Instead there are no elements clearly indicating the layout of the perimeter walls to the east and west. To the east, it has been surmised that the back wall may have been developed on the chord of the current apse, added in the 16th century. This trend would integrate well with the presence of the baptistery structure identified in the excavations carried out recently behind the church. As regards the façade, it is assumed that it was placed at about the height of the columns that now support the nuns’ choir gallery, so that the building, with a rectangular plan, was 21 metres long and about 9 wide. The north side of the original church was probably flanked by additional premises as is suggested by the presence of remains of masonry including part of an arched door at about the height of the spot where there is believed to have been the northern corner of the façade of the first church. The church of San Giovanni seems to have been coeval with a building that stood in front of it, a few metres from the façade, with a different orientation. The perimeter walls of this building, which emerged in archaeological research carried out in 1955 and also in recent surveys, seem to have very old foundations. The relationship between the church and this building that stood opposite is very important for understanding the subsequent developments of the place of worship, characterised by a transformation dynamic strongly conditioned by this pre-existing structure which is always respected, becoming a qualifying element of the monastic complex. These clues confirm the importance of the building, and we cannot exclude that it may have been the palace of the Longobard Gastald, as has been proposed. This situation of respect already emerges from the first signs of an extension of the original building of worship, which would appear to have taken place on the western side with the construction of what seems to be a narthex, indicated by a north-south wall lying at about 3-3.5 m from the presumed line of the original façade. This wall, about 50 cm thick, seems to be inclined slightly from south-west to north-east with respect to the course of the north and south perimeter walls, almost as though attempting to adapt them to the orientation of the building opposite. It is difficult to place this architectural phase chronologically. The fact that the presumed narthex is the result of an evolution of the first layout could be proven by the appreciably higher level of the foundations. The wall of the presumed narthex was then reinforced, perhaps as part of a new redefinition of the church façade. Work must have been carried out on the building after the earthquake in the 13th century which seriously damaged both the church and the Longobard Temple. Sources tell of work carried out under the Abbess Gisla de Pertica in 1242, regarding especially the choir and leading to the reconsecration of the high altar of the church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist and to St. John the Evangelist, as well as another altar dedicated to all Saints. A consecration stone of 1242, preserved in a later transcription, mentions an extensive phase of restoration of the choir. It cannot be excluded that the eastern front of the church may have been modified at the same time.
THE FOURTEENTH-CENTURY CHURCH
An epigraph built into the façade of the church recalls that it was rebuilt under the Abbess Margherita della Torre, who ruled the monastery between 1371 and 1384.
The traces of this renovation emerge both from excavations and from the reading of the stratification of masonry as regards the southern perimeter and the façade, whiles there are no certain elements regarding the north wall and the conclusion on the east side. Archaeological investigations in the area of the presbytery have shown that the southern perimeter was rebuilt slightly farther south, on the line that it still maintains, connected to a new floor at a higher level which had effaced the original structures. The church was then extended in width towards the south whereas to the north it maintained the original alignment. On the outside, the masonry in the south-east corner shows how the new building maintained the same limit towards the east that is presumed for the previous church. In this area the masonry is characterised by blocks of stone set in place in horizontal courses with lime mortar and very fine sand which still shows sections of finishing mortar with grouting of the joint. The wall presents an indentation about 1.50 m above ground level, after which the row moves back. A similar characteristic and the same installation technique were also found in some portions of the present façade of the building after recent restoration work which allowed the elimination of the cement plaster that covered the lower part. It was thus possible to confirm that in this phase of rebuilding also the western sector was enlarged, bringing the west wall into its present position. This already seemed to be confirmed by the presence of late fourteenth-century frescoes in the niches in the upper part of the façade. Recent analyses of the masonry have made it possible to recognise the limits of the old doorway, located farther south than the present one, and the outline of the tympanum that topped the upper part of the façade of the church built by the Abbess Margherita della Torre. It was also possible to ascertain how the western end of San Giovanni was strongly conditioned by the presence of the old building standing opposite the church with a different orientation, possibly the palace of the Gastald. This building was still in use and was respected by the new layout that came right up against it and incorporated it, with the north-west corner of the façade which, resting on the east perimeter of the old building, must have been unnaturally rounded off, on both the inside and the outside. This unusual architectural situation could allow a direct connection between the church and the south-west side of the cloister, particularly to the upper floor. This might be the explanation for the unusual solution adopted for Margherita's church, as also emerges from the hypothetical reconstruction of the internal space of the place of worship. There are no clear indications of the floor level in this church, which must have been about 40 cm below the present one. A final aspect concerns the construction of the bell tower adjoining the southern side of the façade. This certainly appears to stand against the fourteenth-century masonry and is made using a different construction technique. It is not clear when it was added, whether shortly after the construction of the church of Margherita della Torre or during the following century. It certainly existed before 1521 when it was renovated.
THE CHURCH AFTER THE MIDDLE AGES
The phases of transformation of the architectural layout that can be dated to the end of the 14th century would appear to concern the addition of a large apse towards the east and the redefinition of the internal space towards the west, now a single space thanks to the elimination of the old partition wall, while a tomb was also placed on its structure, towards the north. This probably required the rearrangement of the raised choir against the counter-façade and the laying of a new floor of terracotta slabs. Consequently the entrance also had to be raised, as seems to be indicated by the brick infill of the doorway documented in the excavations of 1955. The raising of the levels of use must also have involved the area immediately outside the church, towards the west. Significant traces of a new arrangement of the old building standing next to the north-west corner of the church have emerged here, thanks to the recent analyses of the stratification of construction. A double brick arch was opened in the perimeter of this building with a jamb placed exactly in the point where it joined the façade of the church. The old building next to San Giovanni therefore continued to have a central role in the relationship between the church and the monastery, even though its form and functions had been changed; it cannot be excluded that it may have also have been increased in height at that time. The double arch standing at the north-west corner of the church belonged to a new monumental entrance to the cloister with a corridor, the ceiling of which was decorated with panels painted with coats of arms, dating from the end of the 15th to the beginning of the 16th century. One of the panels shows the coat of arms of the Formentini family, so it may refer to two abbesses, Elisabetta Formentini (1492-1516) and Relinta Formentini de Cusano (1517-1548). In particular under the rule of the latter, important works were carried out in the monumental complex, such as the enlargement of the cloister including also the houses of the Jews and the synagogue, which had previously been purchased. During her rule, the top of the bell tower, probably damaged by the earthquake of 1511, was also rebuilt, as is recorded on the stone slab affixed to the tower: “RIILINTIS. QUODAM / RODOLFI. FRUMENTINI / REGULI- CUSANESSIS / FILIA . HVIVSQUE / MONASTERII . ANTISTITA / ANNO.SALUTIS / M.D.XXI. FECIT”. Pellegrino da San Daniele and Girolamo d’Udine produced paintings for her, but there remain no works by these artists linked to the Monastery or to the church, whereas there is currently an altar piece on the left-hand altar in San Giovanni.
THE CHURCH IN THE 17TH-18TH CENTURY
Between the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century, some work was carried out on the church which gave it its present appearance. The whole building was considerably elevated as may be seen in the stratification of the façade which was also extended towards the north, where its new corner invaded the area communicating with the cloister. The access system was also modified, shifting the central portal to the centre of the west wall. These interventions were probably part of a single renovation project carried out in the last decades of the 17th century and completed in 1694, the date engraved on the architrave of the new portal: ANNO DOMINI MDCXIV. The elevating of the church and the redefinition of the façade must already have been finished when the raising of the bell tower was completed in 1724, as is recorded on the marble slab on the tower: “HINC / ELLEVATA / ILL.MA/ ABB.A / NICOLETTI / MDCCXXIIII”. In the first three decades of the 18th century, important works were carried out on the monumental complex under the guidance of the master builder Luca Andrioli; in particular, the redefinition of the east side of the cloister and ample elevations of the buildings on via Monastero Maggiore and in the Refectory. In the third quarter of the 18th century, the church underwent further radical restoration work. As we know from a letter of Canon Lorenzo del Torre, the destruction caused by lightning in 1751 required a series of interventions: “it was decided to renovate the ruined choir and at the same time those devout mothers resolved to reinforce the already shaky foundations of the old walls of the church and to modernise it with the addition of two altars”. The work was concluded in 1776 with the addition of the sacristy next to the bell tower, along the south side of the building, while a narthex was built in front of the church, connected to the area that allowed access to the cloister. The period between the last quarter of the 17th and the 18th century seems to have been a particularly busy one for the works on the church of San Giovanni and it was also during this period that the interior of the building was refurbished. The system of supports for the raised choir in the western sector was renovated, while pilaster strips were applied on the north and south walls. The high altar was completed in 1674 by the master builder Paolo Zuliani from Venice and then decorated in the 18th century with four angels by the sculptor Antonio Comaretto from Gemona and three altar pieces of 1750 by the Bologna artist Ercole Graziani, depicting in the centre the Assumption of Our Lady and, on the sides, Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. The side altars in the main body of the church were made in fake marble by Giacomo Vassalli from Lugano and embellished with an altar piece depicting Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Benedict and Saint Clare on the right-hand side, by the Venetian Piero Antonio Novelli (1724), while the one on the left has an altarpiece of Saint Ursula with her companions, by Palma the Younger, originally painted for the monastery at Cella.
Like the architectural renovation, also the decoration of the church continued throughout the eighteenth century, as is demonstrated by the fresco of Saint John on the ceiling of the building, painted in 1771 by Giuseppe Dizioni.