Ragusa Cathedral, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, stands in the new upper town of Ragusa in Sicily. An earlier church of San Giovanni Battista stood in the old town, Ragusa Ibla, beneath the walls of a medieval castle. The earthquake of 1693 severely damaged it, and a new church was rebuilt in the upper town. Its foundation stone was laid on April 15, 1694, and the small church opened on August 16 of that year.
It proved too small, and a larger church was begun in 1718. The master builders Giuseppe Recupero and Giovanni Arcidiacono, both of Acireale, oversaw the project. The style is Baroque, with details that resemble Baroque monuments in Acireale and Catania. The main entrance is monumental, with rusticated columns.
The interior dates from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The church became a cathedral in 1950, when the Diocese of Ragusa was created.
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