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Cathedral of St John the Evangelist: the church where the community of Capranica was born
In the heart of Capranica, on the Via Cassia midway between Rome and Viterbo, the Cathedral of San Giovanni Evangelista is the town’s parish church. The current building, Neoclassical in style, dates from 1842. The medieval church, built in the 13th century, was demolished in 1805,having fallen into disrepair. Yet the original church had witnessed the birth of the Municipality: in 1464, it was here that the people of Capranica gathered to rise up against the Anguillara counts, and had the insignia of their new autonomous community blessed.
The works inside
The nave preserves works from different periods. On the high altar, the altarpiece depicting St John the Evangelist is by Filippo Pozzi. The oldest pieces, however, come from the previous church: the baptismal font of 1586 and, above all, a 15th-century tabernacle for the Holy Oils, now housed in the chapel of the "Madonna che ha aperto gli occhi" ("Our Lady Who Opened Her Eyes"), a name linked to an alleged local miracle.
A portal harking back to the Middle Ages
The Romanesque portal of the 13th-century church has not been lost: it was dismantled and reused for the former hospital of San Sebastiano, in Piazza San Francesco. Those wishing to see what the entrance to the ancient parish church once looked like can find it there, just a few steps from the Cathedral.
