As you pass through the old gate into the ancient village of Chiauci, a stone staircase leads your gaze upward toward the Church of Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist—a sacred structure as rooted in rock as it is in local memory.
Once the only church within the town walls (others like the Church of the Rosary or Saint Onuphrius were “extra moenia,” outside the walls), this church stands on ancient stone foundations. Its Romanesque origins are suggested by nearby remnants of medieval fortifications and an old local tale: in 1938, the parish priest Don Donato del Ciello wrote that the church may once have been part of the adjacent baronial palace.
Inside, three naves hold a trove of sacred art. Saint George stands over the slain dragon at one altar, while Saint Michael crushes Lucifer in a side chapel. Saint Sebastian, relics of Saint Vincent, and a moving Crucifixion scene fill the space with symbolism. The colorful altar and 18th-century pipe organ add a
historic atmosphere.
Don’t forget to look up: the ceiling holds a luminous Assumption of the Virgin, painted and restored in the 1950s by artists Valeria Vecchia Barriviera and her husband Lino Bianchi Barriviera.
The church’s most unexpected feature is its round bell tower—a perfect cylinder, unlike anything else in the region. This “compass-true” tower echoes the defensive architecture of Norman or even Lombard origin, making it a unique visual landmark in the Sannio landscape.