The church of San Giovanni Evangelista di Prè faces out onto Genoa’s most multi-ethnic district, once a landing place for migrants arriving from poorer, far-away lands. With the neighbouring Commenda, this church is part of an important Romanesque architectural and historical complex. Built at the end of the 12th century for the Knights Hospitallers of the Sovreign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, this building features a peculiar two-story structure forming two separate churches, initially serving distinct purposes: The upper church was for the monks/knights, and the lower one was open to worship for pilgrims and local residents. The church has a very beautiful 13th-century bell tower with an octagonal cusp surrounded by four quadrangular spires. As there was no public access until 1731, the church has no real façade, and the present-day entrance opens out on to what used to be the apse. The majestic and austere Late-Romanesque interior houses paintings by important Genoese Baroque artists, such as Bernardo Castello, Lorenzo De Ferrari and Lazzaro Tavarone. The lower church has restricted opening times.The Commenda is a complex and articulated building among the most interesting and best preserved in Genoa from the Romanesque period. Built in 1180 by the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, who later founded the Order of Malta, the building was intended as both a hospital and a hostel providing care and help to pilgrims and crusaders travelling to and from the Holy Land.
The three floors of this building used to house a convent, a hospital and two churches, placed one on top of the other, and both dedicated to Saint John. The higher church was only used by the Knights and now appears as if it had quite literally been ‘turned round’, as access onto present-day Via Prè is now through the apse. No longer open for worship, the smaller, lower church was available to hospital guests alone.
With three orders of triple-arched windows and a pyramidal spire, the bell tower is remarkably beautiful.
A veritable monument to medieval architecture, this place is loaded with history. Nowadays it is used for cultural events; in particular it hosts a museum-theatre, where modern technology transforms documents into images and shows able to bring historical characters back to life. Among these characters are Genoese, Arabs, Jews, Crusaders and navigators from every Mediterranean country, all sending out their inter-cultural message, claiming that no one should feel like a foreigner in Genoa.