Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista

Southeastern Sicily


After the earthquake of 1693 reduced the original church to rubble, construction of the current baroque beauty began in 1760. Behind its elegant convex-concave facade, a stucco-adorned interior houses the Cristo di Burgos (Christ of Burgos), a late 17th-century painting also known as Cristo in gonnella (Christ in a Skirt). Viewed upside down, Christ's long white robe resembles a goblet. Note also the three ostrich eggs at Christ's feet, a common medieval symbol representing Christ's conception, death and resurrection.


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