Chiesa della Santissima Annunziata, Sulmona

The church of the Most Holy Annunciation faces Corso Ovidio, the main street of Sulmona; the foundation date goes back to 1320, but no traces remain of the ancient structure, destroyed by the earthquakes of 1456 and 1706.

The façade, newly built by the Pescolano Norberto Ciccio at the beginning of the 18th century, is articulated in two orders and features two pairs of projecting paired columns that divide the space vertically into three parts; the broken curved pediment and the connecting volutes complete the upper part of the façade.

The reconstruction of the interior was entrusted to the Bergamo architect Pietro Fantoni, who created a dome with a lantern over the presbytery area. The plan is divided into three naves, with the central one vaulted as a barrel and the lateral ones crowned by small domes; the decorative apparatus was carried out by the stucco artist Giovanni Battista Gianni, the carver Norberto Ciccio, and the painter Giovanbattista Gamba.

The church underwent two restoration interventions in the 20th century: in the 1960s, the decorative elements were restored, and in the 1980s, structural consolidation interventions and repainting of the interior were carried out.