SAN GIOVANNI IN FIORE. - Abbey founded in 1191 by Abbot Gioacchino, who, having left the Cistercians (v. GIOACHINO DA FIORE), first withdrew with a single companion to the grange of S. Martino di Canale near Pietrafitta and shortly afterward took refuge in the mountains of the Sila florense, where he gathered a small group of monks under the very strict Florense Rule, which had already been approved by Pope Innocent III’s bull in 1196.
A different hypothesis has recently been advanced, though not supported by sufficient documentary evidence (S. Faglia, 1947): it would postpone the construction of the abbey to 1223 and assign it to a Brother Giuliano, master builder, who would have imported into Calabria the architectural forms already established at Fossanova and Casamari.
The church, dedicated to the Baptist, was built at the same time as the convent, both standing side by side on the left bank of the Neto River; however, it was never completed according to the grandiose original designs, which can still be perceived intact in the apse and presbytery. Of clear Gothic layout, dependent on Burgundian and Cistercian forms, the structure consists of a large nave with a square choir, lit by a complex of single-lancet windows and rose windows arranged to form a cross, and represents one of the typical manifestations of Gothic architecture in the region. The church façade, presumably left unfinished, is of Norman type with an arched portal; inside, the nave was entirely altered in the 17th century by Baroque superstructures. On the right arm of the transept, a chapel with ribbed vaults leads, by a steep staircase, into the crypt below, discovered and restored in 1931, where, in an arcosolium, the mortal remains of the proto-abbot were collected. Few traces remain of the ancient monastery, some of which have been brought to light and restored in recent years. Important studies on the original iconography, structure, and artistic significance of the monumental complex are currently underway.