St. John the Baptist Co-Cathedral
The Conventual Church of the Order of the Knights Hospitallers is an architectural and artistic gem. Simple and sombre on the outside to reflect the Knights’ vows of poverty, it is then, so rich on the inside. A French visitor was so awed and struck by its ravishing beauty that he described it as "a marble paradise wrapped in flames of gold." It houses one of the grandest Renaissance masterpieces, Caravaggio’s Beheading of St. John the Baptist. Venerated there is the Holy Icon of the Theotokos, known as the Madonna of Caraffa. It hangs in the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, whose portico is made of solid silver. The Church is visited by thousands and thousands of tourists each year.
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