The Church of San Giovanni Battista is a modern church designed by Mario Botta to replace the old 17th-century church destroyed by an avalanche in 1986 in a small Swiss village called Mogno. While retaining its modest size, the church’s design introduces a more contemporary aesthetic.
The interior design is rather simple with two rows of wooden benches and a marble altar. There hangs a statue of Jesus Christ over the walls of the church’s apsis. The most prominent feature of the church’s interior design might be the grey and white rocks forming horizontal bands on the wall. These construction materials were local stones from the Maggia Valley and gneiss from the Riveo quarry. The design of the Church of San Giovanni Battista also reminds Tuscan Romanesque cathedrals due to the similarity of material choice.
