Bernini e San Giovanni in Fonte: considerazioni a margine dell’architettura del battistero

Abstract

In recent years the complex of buildings that set up the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Laterano was the subject of several
researches, which reviewed the chronology of these artefacts on the basis of new stratigraphical investigations. In addition,
archival studies clarified the role of the modernisations drawn up in modern times. And that’s because it was precisely such
transformations that determined the current appearance of the baptistery.
On several occasions – between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries – these interventions mainly concerned the image of the
paleochristian octagonal building, primarily from the inerior perspective. Particularly the wooden ceilings seem to be interesting, especially
because they were renewed at the time of Pope Urban VIII Barberini (1623-1644): Domenico Castelli (1582ca-1657) adjusted
the lacunar structure over the annular peribulum; Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) re-appointed the dome over the baptismal font.