Ascoli Piceno Baptistery

The Ascoli Piceno Baptistery (Italian: Il battistero di San Giovanni di Ascoli Piceno), also known as the baptistery of Saint John, is a religious building found on the eastern end of the piazza Arringo at the center of Ascoli Piceno and sitting next to and just north of the cathedral dedicated to St. Emygdius, the city's patron saint.

The structure, simple and austere in its architectural form, perfectly represents the Romanesque style in Ascoli, and, being ranked among the best examples of Italian works of art, is included in the list of Italian national monuments (r.d. n.7033 del 20/07/1890).

The beginning of the baptistery's construction is difficult to date accurately, but archeological finds from 1828 and other excavations between 1870-1880 suggest that the interior of the structure was a pagan temple on Ascoli's forum which may have been dedicated to Hercules.

According to Giambattista Carducci, the temple was used as a baptistery already by the 6th century. He also notes that its octagonal form is like the baptistery of Saint John in Florence, of the Arian baptistery of Ravenna, and of the Lateran baptistery in Rome built by Constantine.

The baptistery's first restoration came prior to the 9th century, with interventions following in the 10th and 11th centuries as shown in the triangular decorations and the framing of the principal entrance. Most recently, the interior of the baptistery was restored in 2006.

The baptistery is constructed of large, square blocks of travertine, some of which were taken from earlier structures. Visible at the base of the eastern side are the remains of a Roman wall. It is a freestanding structure with a massive, square base containing entrances on two sides. The tiburio (the upper part of the structure designed to shape and protect the cupola within) is octagonal in shape, decorated with four small windows, and crowned with a square lantern, also containing windows to allow light inside. Each side of the tiburio is decorated with a blind arcade containing three round arches, with exception of the east facing side which contains a pair of arcades with only two arches each. All of these arcades were added during the 12th century.

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