The Santissima Annunziata Maggiore is a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

church located in the quartieri Pendino near Forcella, in the historic center of

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, Italy.

Succorpo Vanvitelliano della Basilica della SS

History

In the ancient Roman era, the city baths and gymnasium of ''Neapolis'' were located in this area. In 1318,

Sancia of Majorca Sancia of Majorca (c. 1281 – 28 July 1345), also known as Sancha, was Queen of Naples from 1309 until 1343 as the wife of Robert the Wise. She served as regent of Naples during the minority of her stepgrandaughter, Joanna I of Naples, from 1343 ...

, the

queen consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but hi ...

Robert, King of Naples Robert of Anjou (), known as Robert the Wise (; 1276 – 20 January 1343), was King of Naples, titular King of Jerusalem and Count of Provence and Forcalquier from 1309 to 1343, the central figure of Italian politics of his time. He was the thir ...

, ceded some land to the lay Congregation of the Santissima Annunziata to establish an institution for care of '' foundlings''. The original church was located at the site of the current hospital, since fragments of 14th-century frescoes of the school of Roberto d'Odirisio were found there. The Angevin church however was razed by 1513, when a larger church was started. the architect

Ferdinando Manlio Ferdinando Manlio (died in 1570) was an Italian sculptor, architect and urban planner of the Renaissance, active in Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rom ...

, was likely involved. The bell tower was commissioned by the Baron Troiano di Somma. Little survives of this church and its decoration; in 1757 a fire destroyed nearly all the church except for the sacristy, the chapel of the Treasury and the Carafa chapel. The next reconstruction followed a design by

Luigi Vanvitelli Luigi Vanvitelli (; 12 May 1700 – 1 March 1773), known in Dutch as (), was an Italian architect and painter. The most prominent 18th-century architect of Italy, he practised a sober classicising academic Late Baroque style that made an ea ...

, and was completed by his son Carlo. The church as we see it today was consecrated in 1774 and the concave facade added in 1782.

Ferdinando Fuga Ferdinando Fuga (11 November 1699 – 7 February 1782) was an Italian architect who was born in Florence, and is known for his work in Rome and Naples. Much of his early work was in Rome, notably, the Palazzo della Consulta (1732–7) at the Quir ...

helped rebuild the adjacent complex. The gray and white interior is a sober statement of "anti-Baroque", with a theme of coupled Corinthian columns under an unbroken entablature; paired ribs carry the columns upwards in skeletal semi-circular arches that articulate the coffered barrel vaulting. There are works by

Giuseppe Sanmartino Giuseppe Sanmartino or Sammartino (1720 – 1793) was a prominent Italian sculptor in Naples during the late Baroque period who focused on religious sculptures. His most famous work is the '' Veiled Christ'' (1753) in Sansevero Chapel in Naple ...

Basilica della Santissima Annunziata Maggiore

The Orphanage and its wheel (ruota)

The church has always been associated, in one form or another, with an

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...

. The complex of buildings attached to the church are now part of a maternity and pediatric hospital. As an orphanage, it was equipped with a famous wheeled system on the wall, where abandoned infants were placed into a revolving basket container from the street, and the basket could then be turned such that the infant wound up within the church where nuns would then receive, baptize, and register the new addition to the orphanage. (The "basket room" has been restored and visitors may see how the operation was handled.) The existence of the wheel is documented by 1601. The system was abolished in the 1870s. The church functioned as an orphanage until the 1950s at which time state social services took over the task.

Chapels

The first chapel on the left houses a ''Pietà'' attributed to Fabrizio Santafede. The second chapel on the left is dedicated to the ''Annunciation''; the altarpiece was painted by Giacinto Diano. The third chapel on the left has an altarpiece depicting the ''Adoration by the Shepherds'' (1775) by the Genoese Francesco Narici. Of renown, and cult reverence, is the 14th century wooden sculpture of the ''Madonna de Repentiti''. It is popularly known as “Mamma Chiatta”. The first chapel on the right has an altarpiece of the ''Crucifixion'' (1774) by Fedele Fischetti. The chapel has the tomb of Francesco Mariconda (died 1626), noble and riding instructor of Phillip the fourth. Giuliano Finelli completed the sculpture. The second chapel on right has a canvas of the ''Virgin and Saints Januarius, Nicola, and others'' attributed to Giuseppe D'Amato.

External links

Website of the Church
{{Luigi Vanvitelli Annunziata 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Annunziata Annunziata Annunziata Neoclassical architecture in Naples Burial sites of the Capetian House of Anjou Neoclassical church buildings in Italy Luigi Vanvitelli buildings