The bell tower is 55 metres tall, exactly the height of the one the bombs brought down. Recco took twenty-five air raids during the Second World War, and two of them, on 10 November and 27 December 1943, wiped out the old parish church along with entire blocks and the railway bridge that crosses above the town. The new church was designed by Umberto Travaglio and Attilia Vaglieri Travaglio as soon as the war ended: on 1 May 1951 Cardinal Giuseppe Siri, archbishop of Genoa, consecrated it. Rebuilding the tower to the same height was a deliberate statement: Recco wanted its skyline back.
What to see
The façade is travertine, fronted by a portico, and carries four statues of the Evangelists around a large mosaic: Saint John the Baptist on one side, Saint John the Good on the other, both before Christ the King. The two patrons stand there, one per side, and explain the parish's double name.
Inside there are three naves and a dome, but almost everything worth looking at is older than the church: the Baroque high altar comes from the destroyed building, as do the six side altars and the canvases pulled out from under the bombs. The presbytery holds Valerio Castello's altarpiece of 1655 with Saints Mark, John the Baptist, Cecilia, George and Lawrence; another, of 1626, is by Gioacchino Assereto and brings together John the Baptist, George, Lucy, Catherine and Bernard. A canvas of uncertain date by Giovanni Andrea De Ferrari shows the bishop saints Erasmus, Blaise and Nicholas; the Beheading of the Baptist, of 1615, is by Giovanni Andrea Ansaldo. In the third chapel of the left nave stands the wooden group of the Crucifix and the two Marys, carved by Anton Maria Maragliano. The organ was built by the Tamburini firm between 1959 and 1966: opus 438, fifty-two stops over three manuals and pedal.
Visiting
The church stands in piazza San Giovanni Bono, in the centre of Recco, not far from the railway viaduct that strides over the town, and it is the parish church of the Recco-Uscio-Camogli vicariate. Expect a plain, well-lit post-war shell holding a collection of seventeenth-century Genoese painting: the surprise lies entirely in that gap of dates.
Our editors' tip
Look at the paintings with the date of the church in mind: the canvases are from the seventeenth century, the building is from 1951, and if they are still here it is because somebody took them down and carried them away while Recco was being demolished. If you happen to arrive on a feast day and the organ is playing, stay: fifty-two stops in a domed nave carry well. And before you leave, walk around the outside to see the bell tower whole.