The church of San Giovanni Battista is a small church in the centre of Modugno, near the Motta; originally it stood outside the fourteenth-century walls. It includes the rooms of an old town hospital. According to recent studies it is of fourteenth-century origin: it rose on a pilgrims' hospice that already existed, and belonged to the Greek family of the Johannaci. In 1756, by then in ruins, it was restored at his own expense by Domenico Del Zotti, rector of the hospital.
What to see
The rectangular doorway is surmounted by a large round arch, where the pilgrims' symbols can be seen in bas-relief: the shell of St James and the gourd that served as a water flask. Above the building is a small bell gable.
Next to the little church stands the room originally intended as the hospital. Inside there is a fresco of St John the Baptist, which seems to confirm that the place served as a hospital.
Visiting
Whether the little church is open should be checked on the spot; the doorway with the pilgrims' symbols can be seen from outside.
Our editors' tip
Because of its plan and structure some scholars had thought it Byzantine. What moved the date to the fourteenth century were unpublished documents and the presence of architectural elements that are not Byzantine.
