Church of Saint John the Baptist

The Church of Saint John the Baptist stands at one of Acquarica's historic focal points. An earlier church on the site served as the parish church until 1619, and the confraternity associated with the building is documented from at least 1670. In 1828 the confraternity financed a complete rebuilding. The result belongs to the nineteenth century but deliberately continues the devotional identity of a much older place of worship.

The façade uses an elegant Rococo vocabulary, although later restoration removed some of its original plaster and stucco finish. A niche high on the front once held a wooden statue of Saint John the Baptist; after exposure damaged it, the figure was moved inside. Look also for the small sundial at the southern corner and the bell structure with two bells, details that connect the architecture to the daily rhythms of the square.

Inside, the single nave contains altars dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows and Saint John the Baptist, together with accomplished wooden works linked to Neapolitan production. A Greek inscription associated with the rebuilding is a particularly striking reminder that Greek language and liturgical traditions survived for centuries in southern Salento. Saint John was Acquarica's patron before devotion to Saint Charles Borromeo took precedence in the early seventeenth century, so the church also preserves the memory of an earlier civic identity.