The impressive Parish Church of San Giovanni Evangelista is at the centre point around which the ancient village of Montalbano developed.
We first read about the Church in the 12th century. Originally, it was dedicated to San Johannes, and only in 1535 was it attributed to San Giovanni Battista. Its early foundations were once inside the fortified perimeter of the castle which you can also see today in its semi-circular apse and in the parsonage.
The present-day building is the result of various renovations which were carried out in the 17th century. It was also at this time that the bell tower and the colonnade were built.
The church has one single nave covered with wooden trusses. On the High Altar stands the ‘Trasfigurazione di Cristo on Monte Tabor’ by Girolamo Scaglia, and in the niche behind the Baptismal Font, you can see the ‘Battesimo di Cristo’ by Azelio Tuci, a Pistoia artist who also worked in the Church of Santo Stefano in Campiglio.
Important in the history of art is also the statue/reliquary of ‘Sant ‘Atto’, an important Pistoia bishop, and the organ commissioned by the Tronci family, well known in the 18th century.
