The Church of the Santissima Annunziata is a small

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

church or oratory located on via dell'Annunziata in central

Pesaro Pesaro () is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, ...

, region of

Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...

, Italy. The deconsecrated church was restored in the year 2000, and the building in 2016 was used for cultural exhibitions and events.

History

The structure was originally built by a confraternity, ''Confraternita dell’Annunziata'', which had been founded in 1347 by the Beato Cecco and Beata Michelina Metelli to provide for hospice and proper burial to the poor, including pilgrims in transit through Pesaro. The lot was donated to the confraternity in 1356. The building underwent refurbishment to its present layout in the mid 17th century. In 1779, it was acquired by the Mosca family, whose palace was adjacent. The Mosca family, which used the church as a mausoleum of the family, commissioned the paintings in the cupola and the installation of the stucco saint statues in the niches. With the extinction of the Mosca family in 1938, the church was ceded to the

Pesaro Cathedral Pesaro Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Pesaro; Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Pesaro, Marche, Italy, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It is the archiepiscopal seat of the Archdiocese of Pesaro. Gal ...

. In 1714–1715, the apse acquired a dramatic stucco ''Annunciation'' relief by the late-Baroque artist Giuseppe Mazza; this replaced the prior main altarpiece: an early-16th-century painting by

Marco Palmezzano Marco Palmezzano (1460–1539) was an Italian painter and architect, belonging to the Forlì painting school, who painted in a style recalling earlier Northern Renaissance models. He was mostly active near Forlì. Biography Palmezzano was b ...

, now found in the

Pinacoteca Vaticana The Vatican Museums ( it, Musei Vaticani; la, Musea Vaticana) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of ...

. Once this church also housed the ''Madonna del Popolo with the Beata Michelina, St Luke, and an Angel'' (now in the Museum of the Cathedral) by

Giovanni Giacomo Pandolfi Giovanni Giacomo Pandolfi (1567–1636) was an Italian painter, who was born and lived in Pesaro. Biography He was likely the son of the painter Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi, also from Pesaro, who had married the sister of the painter Girolamo ...

. In 1921, it was substituted by the ''Madonna del Rosario and Saints'' by

Fernando Mariotti Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...

(1891-1969). This painting and the ''Jesus on Cross with two Saints'' by

Giovanni Peruzzini Giovanni Peruzzini (1629–1694) was an Italian painter of the Baroque. His father, Domenico Peruzzini was also a painter. Giovanni was born in Ancona, and became a pupil of Simone Cantarini. In Ancona, he painted a ''Beheading of St. John'' for ...

are now also in the Cathedral. The church contains a number of burial tombs. The facade once had a revered fresco image of the ''Madonna del Popolo'', but this was removed to protect it from the elements.Catalogo delle pitture che si conservano nelle chiese di Pesaro
Antonio Becci, Casa Gavelli, Pesaro, 1783, page 36-37.

References

Roman Catholic churches in Pesaro 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Baroque architecture in Marche {{Italy-RC-church-stub