San Giovanni Battista Decollato

San Giovanni Decollato (the Beheaded John the Baptist) is a Roman Catholic church in Rome, sited on via di San Giovanni Decollato in the Ripa rione, a narrow road named after the church. Its construction took most of the 16th century.

It was controlled by a confraternity from Florence, where John the Baptist was the city's patron saint, and Florentines, including popes, sponsored much of the important art in the church, mostly by Florentine artists. The confraternity's Oratory of San Giovanni Decollato, to the left of the main church facade, has Mannerist frescos by Francesco Salviati, Jacopino del Conte, both originally Florentine, and Pirro Ligorio, from the years around 1540. These run round the upper walls of the room , above wall seats, with an altar at the far end.

Members of the confraternity included Michelangelo and Vasari, as well as the Florentine popes Clement VIII, Urban VIII and Clement XII. After 1540 they were allowed to contermand one execution a year.

The diocesan website still calls it a chiesa rettoria, indicating a function and affiliation other than an ordinary parish church, in this case as one of Rome's many national and regional churches. Its role was rather overtaken by the grander San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, also built over the 16th century.