San Giovanni Battista or dell'Autostrada del Sole is a church in

Campi Bisenzio Campi Bisenzio is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about northwest of Florence. History The word Campi in the municipality's name stems from the fields which are widespread i ...

, near

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, within a large motorway

rest area A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names include motorway servi ...

shared between two

autostrada The Autostrade (; singular ) are roads forming the Italian national system of motorways. The total length of the system is about . In North and Central Italy, the Autostrade mainly consists of tollways managed by Autostrade per l'Italia, a ...

roads. It can also be reached on foot from a local road outside the autostrada system. The church is formally named after

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

but has also earned the name Church of the Freeway of the Sun for its location between

autostrada del Sole The Autostrade (; singular ) are roads forming the Italian national system of motorways. The total length of the system is about . In North and Central Italy, the Autostrade mainly consists of tollways managed by Autostrade per l'Italia, a ho ...

(Freeway of the Sun) and the A11 Firenze-Mare highway. The design of the church is meant to reflect both modern and traditional church design. The "cross" floor plan and stone facing are meant to evoke a traditional feel, while the tent-like vertical elements and copper roofing reflect modern design tastes. The church stands high. It was built between 1960 and 1963, based on plans by

Giovanni Michelucci Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect, urban planner and designer, was born in Pistoia, Tuscany, on 2 January 1891 and died on the night of 31 December 1990, two days before his 100th birthday, at his studio-home in Fiesole, in Florence's hills ...

. The materials used for the building are stone and concrete for the walls; copper for the roof, oxidized to green on the outside; and burnished blond on the inside. Marble, glass, and bronze are used for the interior elements. The floorplan of the building is asymmetrical and follows sinuous curves creating a feeling of fluid space. The church is decorated with works of Marcello Avenali, Jorio Vivarelli, Dilvo Lotti, and Luigi Venturini. The intention of the church builders was to honor the workers who had died during construction of the freeway and to provide a "parish for the tourists" so those who are travelling can have a place to worship. The ''Autostrada del Sole'' is a reflection of two great societal changes of the 1960s, a society moving toward a more mobile and itinerant culture and the new religious ideas brought forward in the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

pronouncements.

References

* * * {{Coord, 43, 49, 54.01, N, 11, 09, 25.00, E, source:itwiki_region:IT_type:landmark, display=title

Giovanni Battista Giovanni Battista was a common Italian given name (see Battista for those with the surname) in the 16th-18th centuries. It refers to "John the Baptist" in English, the French equivalent is "Jean-Baptiste". Common nicknames include Giambattista, Gia ...

Roman Catholic churches completed in 1963 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Brutalist architecture in Italy