Locals call it il Cupolone, and for once the nickname is exact: the parish church of San Giovanni Battista, on piazza Italia, has a twelve-sided, dodecagonal plan closed by a segmented dome 50 metres high. It is not the builders' dome. The original covering came down in the 1887 earthquake and was rebuilt to earthquake-resistant standards. The church was commissioned by the Doria, the princely family that ruled Loano from 1505 to 1737; work began on 21 February 1633 and ended on 28 March 1638, while consecration came much later, on 17 September 1662. A bronze statue of the patron saint stands on top of the lantern.
What to see
The interior is a small gallery of seventeenth-century Genoese painting. In the first chapel on the right hang the Saint Barbara by Luciano Borzone, signed in 1642, the Saint Sebastian by Orazio De Ferrari of 1639, and a Crucifixion again by Borzone. Behind the high altar is the Birth of the Baptist by Giovanni Andrea Ansaldo, painted in 1625: the canvas that explains the church's dedication.
The chapel on the left holds a Virgin with Saint Anthony Abbot and Paul the Hermit, also by De Ferrari, and the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist by Giovanni Domenico Cappellini. Scattered around the building are the Fall of Saul by Domenico Fiasella, known as il Sarzana, an anonymous Kiss of Judas, and Saint Francis Xavier Baptising the Indians by Giuseppe Badaracco. The baptistery keeps two statues devoted to the baptism of Christ. The bell tower, on the other hand, does not belong to this church: it is the Gothic tower of the earlier parish church, demolished in the early seventeenth century, left standing against the oratory of Nostra Signora del Rosario and later raised with the belfry where six bells ring in mi3.
Visiting
Piazza Italia is the centre of Loano, minutes from the seafront and the railway station: you find the church without looking for it. It is a working parish and the seat of the vicariate of the diocese of Albenga-Imperia, so the hours are those of services; between masses you can go in discreetly. Expect a single space with no side aisles: the dodecagon gathers everything under the dome and the light falls from above, which makes the canvases harder to read on grey days.
Our editors' tip
Stand in the middle of the floor before you look at the paintings: from there you can count the twelve sides and understand why the rebuild after the earthquake chose a segmented dome. Then we always go out to find the bell tower, standing apart beside the Rosario oratory: it is the oldest piece on the block and the easiest to miss. In summer the square fills up in the evening and the front of the church stays lit.