In Riva San Vitale, on the south-eastern shore of the Lago di Lugano, is a baptistery that dates back to around 500 AD. It was dedicated to John the Baptist. Excavations took place in the years 1919-1926, extensive restorations were carried out in 1953-1955.
View of the baptistery. Photo: Wikimedia, Chris ALC.Below the current building with a round baptismal basin an older basin was found: octagonal, clad with marble slabs, 2.10 m. wide and 0.57 m. deep. Around the basin was a marble floor (opus sectile) of small yellow and light blue slabs.
Plan and reconstruction of the marble floor. Steinmann-Brodtbeck 1941, Abb. 10.Two inscriptions were found in Riva San Vitale, near and in the baptistery: the funerary inscription of a quattuorvir from Comum (Como, Italy) and a fragment (EDCS-08000785, EDCS-82600007).
Literature
Steinmann-Brodtbeck 1941; Borella 1976; Drack-Fellmann 1988, 493-494; Frei-Stolba - Lieb 1989; Cardani 1990; Drack-Fellmann 1991, 217-218.
[20-Jan-2024]
