Basilica San Giovanni

The Basilica San Giovanni (Saint John) is an ancient place of historical interest located in Pioppi, in the municipal area of Pratola Serra.

Built around the 7th century, the original building seems to have been known as the Basilica di S. Iohannis de Pratula, mentioned in accounting books from 1308-1310 along with other churches in the Serra fief. It took on the role of the new seat of the Bishops of Abellinum after the city was destroyed by the Lombard peoples, and fulfilled religious functions until at least the late Middle Ages, as evidenced by the numerous tombs found at the site, dating back to that period and well integrated at the prehistoric and Roman ground layers. For reasons as yet unknown, the Basilica lost its importance and underwent a phase of decline that caused first its abandonment and then its deterioration, until its ruins were discovered in 1981.

The analysis of what remains of the original architectural layout reveals that the Basilica of San Giovanni had to be based on a very complex structure, consisting of a narthex, a large single-apse room, a baptistery, and a sepulchre, which could be adapted to multiple functions and to governing the religious life of several communities. The large hall with the narthex was made up of a ciborium, schola cantorum, apse, and niche and was built in imitation of the halls of the great villas of the Roman world. The baptismal font, made up of four equal arms, has many similarities with that of the early Christian basilica found in the Aeclanum Archaeological Park. 
Furthermore, the grave goods of the Basilica, such as jugs and plates bearing the sign of the cross, are reminiscent of Eastern Byzantine burial customs, while other gold and silver crosses found at the site have similarities with objects of the same type found in Benevento, Capua, Pavia, and Senise.

Today, the site still bears witness to important and indelible religious and cultural aspects of the late Roman and medieval period.