What to see in Cantiano
Collegiata di San Giovanni Battista (The Collegiate Church of St. John the Baptist)
Construction of the Collegiate church, next to the
small parish church of St. Giovannino, was begun in 1615; the church was
opened in 1631 and in 1725 it was embellished according to the plans of
architect Antonio Francesco Berardi, giving us the structure as we know
it today. The unfinished front of the church has a single bell tower and
aedicule in brick and stone fascias.
The spacious single nave interior is built on a Latin-cross plan with
slender barrel vaults; over the transept there is a high dome with an
octagonal exterior. Among the works in the church, we note the San Carlo
Borromeo, School of Claudio Ridolfi, an artist to whom the Traslazione
della Santa Casa di Loreto con Sant’Andrea (Translation of the Holy
House of Loreto with St. Andrew) is also attributed. Over the altar in
the Capella della Misericordia (Chapel of Mercy) there is a “Vergine
con Bambino” (Virgin with Child) attributed to Gaetano Lapis da Cagli
(1707-1776).
Inside the chapel there is an exquisite tondo of the "Vergine
con Bambino e San Giovanni" (Virgin and Child and St. John)
also known as the "Madonna del Cardellino"
(Madonna of the Goldfinch) which some attribute to Eusebio di Giacomo,
called Eusebio di San Giorgio, a disciple of the School of Perugino
while other scholars attribute it directly to Perugino and Pinturicchio.
Above the San Carlo altar, is the splendid work by Francesco Allegroni,
the "Decollazione di San Giovanni Battista" (the Beheading of
St. John the Baptist).
A magnificent carved black walnut Choir (1721) by anonymous local
wood-carvers stands out agains the back walls.
Also on display, a wooden group (statue of St. John
and St. Cantiano and a Christ ornament bound to the column) by Antonio
Montini di Siena, the Ultima Cena (Last Supper) by Ventura Mazza
(1560-1633), the Madonna col Bambino, San Luca e San Filippo (Madonna
with Child, St. Luke and St. Philip) by Stefano Perugini (17th century),
the Nascita della Madonna (Birth of the Madonna) by Francesco
Allegrini.
The organ constructed by Giuseppe Greffi (1629), enlarged by
Andrea Feliciotti da Urbania (1805) and renovated and restored by
Alfredo Piccinelli da Padova (1997) is an instrument of exceptional
importance.
In the Cappella di S. Giovanni (St. John’s Chapel), now the Cappella
delle Confessioni (Chapel of Confessions), there is a Salomé from the
“Marchigiana” School of the late 17th century, as well as several
works of local contemporary artists: two bronze plated terracotta
statues by the sculptor Luigi Rabbini, one
depicting a “Bust of Christ” and the other “Maternity and Genetic
Manipulation”.
An altarpiece by Oscar Piattella "Ascensione 88": "The work is one of the rare cases in which an abstract painting is part of the liturgical furnishings. The inclusion in the chapel is very evocative and gives credence to Federico Zerri who maintains that abstract art is the most direct heir to sacred and religious art. The work entitled “Ascensione” is from 1988, and is part of the artist’s most recent research in which the colour blue progressively breaks away from the partially unburnt material and radiates and captures light.
(S. Cuppini Chi Cercate?Ed. Fortuna, Senigallia,
1989)
(From, Cantiano tra Fede e Storia di F.Panfili – M. Tanfulli,
Cantiano 2000)
