Cesena Cathedral (, ''Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista'') is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

dedicated to

Saint John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

in the city of

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

, Italy. It has been the episcopal seat of the present Diocese of Cesena-Sarsina since 1986, and was previously that of the Diocese of Cesena. The building of the cathedral, to replace an older one, was authorised by a

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

Pope Urban VI Pope Urban VI (; ; c. 1318 – 15 October 1389), born Bartolomeo Prignano (), was head of the Catholic Church from 8 April 1378 to his death, in October 1389. He was the last pope elected from outside the College of Cardinals. His pontificate be ...

in 1378. The works started in 1385 and were paid for by the generosity of Andrea Malatesta, the lord of the city. The building was completed around the year 1405. The construction, in Romanesque-

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

style, is attributed to the architect Undervaldo (probably

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

). The

campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

(bell tower) was built between 1443 and 1457 to designs by the Maso di Pietro and funded by Bishop Antonio Malatesta da Fossombrone (bishop of Cesena from 1435 to 1475). The same Bishop Malatesta was responsible for the building of the Bishop's Palace adjoining the cathedral, which was completed by his successor Giovanni Venturelli (1475–1486). After the radical rebuilding of the 1960s the only surviving original part of the structure is what remains of the door on the eastern side. Also dating from the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

period is the Chapel of Saint Tobias next to the cathedral, now in use as the cathedral museum. However, the old hospital of the same name which gave assistance to pilgrims no longer exists. The façade of the cathedral was completed only at the end of the 15th century with works attributed to the Venetian architect

Mauro Coducci Mauro Codussi (1440–1504) was an Italian architect of the early-Renaissance, active mostly in Venice. The name is also rendered as ''Coducci''. He was one of the first to bring the classical style of the early renaissance to Venice to replace th ...

(1440–1504). The mortal remains of Saint Maurus of Cesena (d. 946) are preserved here, in the Altar of Saint John, one of the greatest sculptures of Cesena produced between 1494 and 1505 by the Lombard sculptor Giovanni Battista Bregno da Osteno. Inside the cathedral a small painting on a copper plate by the

Mannerist Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

Livio Agresti Livio Agresti (1508–1580), also called Ritius or Ricciutello, was an Italy, Italian painter of the late Renaissance or Mannerism, Mannerist period, active both in his native city of Forlì and in Rome, where he died. He was one of the members of ...

depicting Saint John has been returned. In the ''Cappella della Madonna del Popolo'' ("Chapel of the Madonna of the People") are frescoes by

Corrado Giaquinto Corrado Giaquinto (8 February 1703 – 18 April 1766) was an Italian Rococo painter. Early training and move to Rome He was born in Molfetta. As a boy he apprenticed with a modest local painter Saverio Porta, (c. 1667–1725), escaping the r ...

dating from 1750, and the painting was personally crowned by the

Pope Pius VI Pope Pius VI (; born Count Angelo Onofrio Melchiorre Natale Giovanni Antonio called Giovanni Angelo or Giannangelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to hi ...

on 3 June 1782, the first occasion in papal history.

External links

Website of the Comune di Cesena: Duomo
{{Authority control Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy Roman Catholic churches in Cesena 14th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Buildings and structures completed in 1405 Churches completed in the 1400s Cathedrals in Emilia-Romagna