San Giovanni Battista all’Osteria del Curato is a 17th century former rural church at Via Tuscolana 1756, near the Anagnina metro station in the suburb of Osteria del Curato. Pictures of the church at Wikimedia Commons are here.
The dedication is to St John the Baptist.
History
The little church is attached to the famous wayside inn of Osteria del Curato, which has given its name to the surrounding suburb in the Capannelle district.
When it was built in 1600, the hostelry was used by travellers on the Via Tuscolana between Rome and Frascati who were passing through an area which was depopulated by malaria and almost uninhabited. It is about halfway in the journey. The complex was owned by the Canons of the Lateran, who provided a priest to minister here.
Back then, the inn was the only building in the locality and the church served a small population of shepherds as well as the travellers.
The inn and church were rebuilt in the later 19th century as trade picked up.
The place of worship now has the status of a dependent church (not a chapel) of the parish of San Raimondo Nonnato. It is still a Chiesa Rettoria, meaning that it should have its own priest, but one has not been appointed for some time and is not likely to be.
As at 2019, the entire complex was disused and was attracting vandalism.
Appearance
The establishment survives as a bar and restaurant, and the tiny church is attached to the right hand end.
It can be identified by the small, plain façade rendered in lilac-pink (like the rest of the complex), with a triangular pediment containing a blank tondo ring in white. The door is flanked by a pair of vertical slit windows with the shape of capsules.
External links
Church's web-page ("inaccessible", 2019)