San Giovanni del Toro

Consecrated in the 11th century, the church was restored in 1715 after damage caused by an earthquake, and it was restored again in the 1990s.{{cite book|last=Murphy|first=Bruce|title=Frommer's The Amalfi Coast with Naples, Capri and Pompeii By Bruce Murphy, Alessandra de Rosa|year=2010|publisher=Frommer's|isbn=978-0-470-49734-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780470497340_0/page/214 214]|author2=Alessandra de Rosa|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780470497340_0/page/214}} The church is named for John the Apostle and for "Il Toro", the former name of the old aristocratic quarter in which it was built.{{cite book|last=Vaughan|first=Herbert Millingchamp|title=The Naples Riviera|year=1908|publisher=F.A. Stokes|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_75kuAAAAYAAJ/page/n188 164]|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_75kuAAAAYAAJ}} It is especially noted for its pulpit, dating from around the 13th century.

Early 20th-century English writers describe the church as in dilapidated condition,{{cite book|last=Ross|first=Janet|title=The fourth generation: reminiscences by Janet Ross|year=1912|publisher=Charles Scribner's sons|pages=[https://archive.org/details/fourthgeneration00rossuoft/page/384 384]|url=https://archive.org/details/fourthgeneration00rossuoft}} stating it would have gone to ruins had it not been for government intervention in the 1880s. According to these authors, who ostensibly derived their knowledge from "an old history," the consecration took place in 1069, and that the church was built by orders of one of the Dukes of Amalfi.

The pulpit is notable for its mosaics, the decorative patterns of which inspired the interlocking patterns used by M.C. Escher,{{cite book|last=Schattschneider|first=Doris|author-link=Doris Schattschneider|title=M.C. Escher: visions of symmetry|url=https://archive.org/details/mceschervisionso0000scha|url-access=registration|year=2004|publisher=Harry N. Abrams|isbn=978-0-8109-4308-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/mceschervisionso0000scha/page/12 12]}} who spent time in Ravello in the 1920s and studied the church and the pulpit; Ravello was one of his favorite places.{{cite book|last=Emmer|first=Michele|title=Matematica E Cultura 2004|year=2004|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-88-470-0291-3|pages=248|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lUJGCsRbvmQC&pg=PT248}} One mosaic is of Jonah emerging from the whale. An eagle supports the reading desk, and it holds a book opened to the first sentence of the Gospel of John. The "beautiful"{{cite book|last=Shearer|first=Craswell|title=The renaissance of architecture in southern Italy: a study of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen and the Capua Triumphator archway and towers|year=1935|publisher=W. Heffer and Sons}} pulpit, which dates from the time of Roger I of Sicily,{{cite book|title=The Brochure series of architectural illustration, Vol. 1|year=1895|publisher=Bates & Guild|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_HL1LAAAAMAAJ/page/n121 133]|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_HL1LAAAAMAAJ}} also contains Oriental pottery ("underglaze-painted and lustre-painted stonepaste bowls, probably Syrian"{{cite book|last=Milwright|first=Marcus|title=An Introduction to Islamic Archaeology|year=2009|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-2311-2|pages=211|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l0pX8BCKLewC&pg=PR211}}) and Arabic script,{{cite book|last=E.|first=Allen|title=Ravello|isbn=978-1-113-45965-7|pages=36–38|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QbDAH5_o3lIC&pg=PA36}} and the steps up to it contain well-preserved frescoes with scenes from the life of Christ.{{cite book|title=Southern Italy and Sicily: with excursions to Malta, Sardinia, Tunis, and Corfu; handbook for travellers|year=1908|publisher=K. Baedeker|pages=[https://archive.org/details/southernitalyan01firgoog/page/n283 191]|url=https://archive.org/details/southernitalyan01firgoog}} There is a side chapel with a stucco figure of Saint Catherine and her wheel.

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Gandolfo|first=Francesco|title=La scultura normanno-sveva in Campania: botteghe e modelli|year=1999|publisher=Laterza|isbn=978-88-420-5923-3|pages=96ff.|chapter=Il Pulpito di San Giovanni del Toro a Ravello}}

{{Amalfi Coast-Sorrento Peninsula}}

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{{Coord|40.6514|N|14.6126|E|source:wikidata|display=title}}

Category:Churches in the province of Salerno

Category:Ravello

Category:18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy

Category:Gothic church buildings in Italy

Category:11th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy