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The 12th-century parish church has a Romanesque layout with a nave, apse, and transept. It is located on the hill of the cemetery, just outside the historic centre. The construction in gray limestone made with regular blocks is enhanced by friezes and bas-reliefs in white stone, and by portals surmounted by bichrome arches, recurring in sacred and civil buildings of the time (the same arches are evidence in the Palazzo Pretorio).
Historical Information
The Church of St. Giovanni was built around 1173 on a hill overlooking Campiglia. Located outside the walls, it probably responded to the needs dictated by population growth, replacing in functions a previous baptismal church located, according to archival sources, near the current Cafaggio. An inscription on the facade not only indicates the year of construction, but also provides a reference to the master responsible for the construction: Matteo. The architectural features refer to classical models of Pisan architecture from the late 11th and 12th centuries, as highlighted by the two small portals on the facade and the north side. The latter portal is characterised by the lintel consisting of a single white marble block with scenes of boar hunting symbolising the defeat of evil by Christ, sculpted in the 1970s and 1980s of the 12th century. On an external wall of the northern transept, an inscription engraved on stone is visible, below the cover, which bears the famous palindrome phrase "Sator arepo tenet opera rotas," common to many other medieval buildings.
Restoration and Archaeological Investigation
The Church of San Giovanni was restored and reopened to the public on 24 June, 2011. The restoration work, which began in early 2010, was funded by the European Community funds of the Cultural Plan of the Tuscany Region for the years 2008-2010 and by municipal funds. In total, about 1.2 million and 200 thousand euros. The project was managed by the architect Donella Garfagnini, and the executing company, following the tender, was Napoleone Chini from Pisa. In addition to enhancing the image of the village, the restoration aimed at recovering a monumental complex that, due to its importance, was placed in the panorama of European Romanesque architecture and art. The restoration work included cleaning the external walls, restoring the roof and gutters, consolidating and recovering the 495 tombs of the monumental cemetery on which the parish church rests, redoing the internal floor in pounded clay like the original one found in the excavations, internal and external lighting, securing the monumental cemetery with a light railing. During the work, some archaeological surveys were carried out by the team of Professor Giovanna Bianchi from the University of Siena, to better understand the history of the monument. These excavations brought to light interesting evidence attesting to the frequentation of the area before the construction of the building. Among the findings for the period before the 12th century, there are two child burials and a third burial of an adult, all without burial objects. This presence justifies the hypothesis of the existence of an older ecclesiastical building. Thus, the heritage of knowledge about the Pieve was enriched from a historical-artistic perspective, extensively studied by Professor Riccardo Belcari.
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