SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Former Romanesque church in Spoleto, Italy

SS. Giovanni e Paolo is a small Romanesque church in Spoleto built of rough grey and brown stone blocks, with a projecting gable roof and a faded painted panel of standing figures above the door. The tall entrance has a rounded stone arch and an iron grille over a solid lower panel. Inside, a single hall church sits above an older crypt cut into a Roman structure, reached by no stair from the nave.

The church was consecrated in 1174 and served as a parish church. Its crypt occupies a Roman structure adapted perhaps in the 11th century, while the upper single-hall church was built with dressed stone and reused Roman spolia. A raised presbytery was added in the 16th century, and in 1755 the Travaglini counts, owners of the adjoining palace, gained a private box to attend services.

The single nave holds frescoes from the late 12th to the 16th century, studied by Umberto Gnoli in 1923. A Romanesque Banchetto di Erode with Salome dancing was attributed to Alberto Sotio, though later scholars doubt it. A 13th-century Madonna della cintola with Saint Francis is among the oldest depictions of the saint.

The building is located in Via Filitteria within the former Byzantine quarter of medieval Spoleto. When visiting, expect narrow medieval streets and plan to check current access conditions before your arrival.

The Martyrdom of Saints John and Paul, a fresco 128 cm high and 238 cm wide, was detached from a lunette in the crypt in 1961 and is now kept at the Museo Nazionale del Ducato di Spoleto. The crypt itself, adapted from a Roman structure perhaps in the 11th century, is not accessible.